By BRENT MARTIN

St. Joseph Post

UPDATE: Click here for the latest on this story. Kansas state officials downplay worries the dam will fail or that failure would cause widespread damage.

A dam south of Sabetha, Kansas is expected to fail this afternoon, sending floodwaters downstream on the Delaware River.

The National Weather Service in Topeka has issued a flash flood warning for southwestern Brown County, east-central Nemaha County, and northeastern Jackson County.

At 2:30 this afternoon, emergency management officials reported the failure of the dam a mile south of Sabehta was imminent.

If the dam indeed fails, flash flooding is expected to overrun U.S. Highway 36 in northeastern Kansas. The Kickapoo Indian Reservation and Golden Eagle Casino are also threatened. The National Weather Service says water could rise to near 13.8 feet at U.S. Highway 36 about an hour after the dam fails. Water could rise to just over 11 feet at U.S. Highway 75 three-and-a-half hours after the failure.