A levee three miles north of Brownville in Missouri failed at about 9 p.m. Thursday, right in front a pair of people patrolling there.

"It happened so quick that they were concerned that they may not be able to escape," Mark Manchester, deputy emergency management director for Atchison County, Mo., said late Thursday. "The water was coming through fast and hard. … We're not sure what the size of the break is so far."

Officials have ordered the evacuation of all of the county west of Interstate 29, he said. That includes the towns of Phelps City, Langdon and Watson, as well as the Nishnabotna Conservation Area.

Manchester said the extent of the breach likely wouldn't be clear until daybreak.

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