 It came after torrential rain caused the city's reservoir to overflow one earthen dam. A second dam at the site broke as intended. Alex Haglund is the public information officer for Washington County, Illinois. In a video posted on Facebook, he says the same storms that caused problems at the dam also caused widespread road closures. Neighboring agencies that were trying to get out here to help us had a difficult time. Some of them had to turn around, take different routes, or wait.