Floodwaters Breach Levee Along Missouri River, Closes part of I-29 from exit 24 near Bartlett, Iowa, south to Rock Port, Mo
June 30, 2011


WOW1.com Updated: 9:39 AM Jun 30, 2011


PERCIVAL, Iowa -- Authorities are reporting that a Missouri River levee has failed near Percival in southwest Iowa.

The National Weather Service says the breach occurred Thursday morning a mile northwest of Percival in Fremont County.

Local emergency officials told the weather service that the breach is expected to flood only previously evacuated areas between Interstate 29 and the river. Percival sits just east of the interstate.

National Weather Service forecaster Josh Boustead says the breach was discovered after the river level downstream at Nebraska City dropped about 6 inches this morning to 27.6 feet. The breach occurred shortly before 4 a.m.

Boustead says the breach was roughly 100-to-150-feet-wide Thursday morning.

Percival is about 16 miles northwest of Hamburg, which had to build a secondary levee earlier this month after earlier breaches.