A Minnesota bridge that almost collapsed under heavy rains has been demolished

MANKATO, Minn. — Contractors on Wednesday blew up the remnants of a damaged southern Minnesota bridge that almost collapsed last summer after a bout of heavy rain that prompted a federal emergency declaration for the area near Mankato.

Explosives were used to destroy the beams of County Road 9 Bridge, Blue Earth County officials said in a Facebook post. Video shows synchronized blasts followed by eruptions of billowing black and beige clouds as huge sections of the bridge crashed into the frozen Blue Earth River below.

County commissioners last year voted to replace the bridge and remove the nearby Rapidan Dam, both of which were at risk of crumbling after last year's deluge. Residents had used the roughly 40-year-old bridge to commute across the dam from rural patches of land to nearby towns. Officials anticipate a yearslong rebuilding process.

The river's water levels rose dramatically in late June and early July after heavy rain pummeled the Midwest for days. While the structures held up in the end, floodwaters forged a new river channel around the dam and cut deeply into a steep riverbank, toppling utility poles, wrecking a substation, swallowing a home and forcing the removal of a beloved store.

Mankato is about 80 miles (130 kilometers) south of Minneapolis.