Tagged: Missouri River Flooding 2011

Updated at 2:07 p.m. with more details - new version of story from Associated Press.

Updated at 12:09 p.m. - see photos of the levee breach on the Atchison County 911/Emergency Management Facebook page.

The rising Missouri River has ruptured two levees in northwest Missouri, sending torrents of flood waters over
rural farmland toward the Iowa town of Hamburg and the Missouri state park and resort of Big Lake.

Updated at 2:41 p.m. with state of Missouri's preparedness.

The fast-moving Missouri River is making for spectacular displays at the dams that control its flow (see video below).

Hundreds of sightseers are turning out at Oahe Dam near Pierre, Garrison Dam near Bismarck, N.D., and other locations to see the thundering torrents as the Army Corps of Engineers releases water downstream. All the water must be moved along to make room for heavy rains in western states and snowmelt from the Rocky Mountains.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is reporting a third partial breach in a Missouri River levee in Atchison County, Mo.

The corps says in a news release that the partial breach caused minimal damage because material from adjacent slopes filled in most of the opening. Workers were able to direct the flow away from the repaired areas of the levee.

Thursday's partial breach occurred about 80 feet north of two previous breaches near Hamburg, Iowa.