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Dykes are built along the rivers to compensate for floods, but authorities ensure that dikes themselves can evacuate.
The Dardanelle breakwater on the Arkansas River broke through, the water quickly moved early Friday, said meteorologist Jeff Hood of the National Weather Service in Little Rock.
Most people were able to evacuate before the breach, Hood said.
"We think the dike is about to break and collapse completely, and then we'll have a big water hole … I think it could be soon," Thone told the station.
Floods in Arkansas have already directly affected more than 500 homes, said CNN Melody Daniel, spokesman for the State of Emergency.
And if the dikes cross the breach, many others could be on the way to flooding.
Thousands of homes affected
The biggest concern is the unprecedented flooding of the dykes: they have never held back so much water for so long, the emergency management department said on Wednesday. 39; Arkansas.
Records are expected at five locations.
The floods could affect thousands of homes in 14 counties near the river, ranging from minor damage to destruction, Daniel said. Two fundraisers, including one in Logan County, along Highway 309, have been overtaken to date, but none have failed, Daniel said.
"It sounds like breaking a record all along the Arkansas River, and it's something we've never seen before," she said.
Governor Asa Hutchinson has sent a letter to President Donald Trump asking him to declare the state of emergency for 15 state counties, but this number is expected to increase.
Mandatory evacuations in Missouri
Arkansas is not the only state to worry about overflowing its rivers and dikes. The Mississippi riparian states themselves are under threat from the rising waters.
A Mississippi embankment failure resulted in a mandatory evacuation of residents of West Quincy, Missouri, the Marion County Sheriff's Office told CNN.
And, according to the Missouri Department of Transportation, more than 300 roads are under water, which could still become so.
Emergency Floods
The New Orleans Army Corps of Engineers District announced that even though it would be held later than planned, it planned to operate the Morganza Floodway on June 9.
The floodway is designed for emergency flooding and, when used, deflects excess floodwater from the Mississippi River to the Atchafalaya Basin, according to the Army Corps of Engineers.
The operation of the floodway itself can cause damage to the property of the surrounding people, said the department.
It had only been used twice before: once in 1973 and once in 2011.
Eliott C. McLaughlin of CNN contributed to this report.
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