(final update at 6:15-p.m.)

Only minor injuries were reported following a motor coach rollover accident this (Monday) morning, in Pottawattamie County. The accident happened at around 7:45-a.m. on Interstate 80, about a  mile east of the Minden exit.  The Iowa State Patrol says a bus registered to Global Transportation, L.L.C in Commerce City, CO and driven by 61-year old Bradley Moe, of Rock Valley, Iowa, was traveling  eastbound on the interstate when the right front tire blew out.

When Moe lost control of the bus, the vehicle, carrying 39 high school-aged passengers, flipped onto the driver’s side and slid down an embankment into the south ditch, and came to rest on its side in a field.  All of the passengers, who are members of “The Troopers” – a competitive junior drum and bugle corps based in Casper, Wyoming, and en-route to a competition in Indiana, were transported to four hospitals in the Omaha/Council Bluffs area.  Each was treated for minor injuries, such as minor bruises and cuts, which required stitches. All have since been released from the hospital.

The bus driver suffered the most serious injuries. He was flown by medical helicopter to Creighton University Medical Center, where he also received treatment and was later released.

Most of traveling musical team was asleep when the accident occurred. After being tossed about as the bus tumbled onto its side, they managed to escape through emergency hatches built into the bus’ roof.  The first emergency crews on the scene reported there were anywhere from 28-to 33 “walking wounded.”

Crews from no fewer than seven area fire and rescue departments along with various ambulance services responded to the crash, which caused eastbound I-80 to be shut down for a little more than two-hours. Other buses carrying corps members continued on to the group’s destination for the night, Greenfield, Iowa.  The Troopers is comprised of performers from across the nation, Canada and Europe, although most members come from the western U.S.

ROCK PORT, Mo. (AP) – A second partial breach has been reported on a Missouri River levee in northwest Missouri.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers reported the first breach on the levee near the Missouri-Iowa border on Sunday. The second breach, which is about 10 feet wide, was reported Monday.

The corps said the Iowa National Guard has been dropping thousands of pounds of large sandbags to help fill the breaches, but the damaged areas are expected to fully breach as water levels rise.

Officials in Iowa and Missouri began evacuations Sunday from Hamburg, Iowa, and from several homes on the Missouri side of the levee because of the breaches. The corps has predicted record river flows and large releases from several upstream reservoirs because of steady spring rain and runoff from record snowpack.

An investigation into suspicious activity in a farm field in rural Red Oak, early Sunday morning, led to the arrest of a teenager. The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office reports 17-year old Dalton P. Valentin, of Red Oak, was arrested just before 2-a.m., on a charge of Minor in Possession of Alcohol.

Valentin was taken into custody in the field located at the end of 137^th Street in rural Red Oak, processed at the jail, and released to the custody of his mother.

Iowa’s only nuclear power plant is in Palo, near Cedar Rapids, but another one is located just across the now-flooding Missouri River in Fort Calhoun, Nebraska. Mike Jones is spokesman for the Fort Calhoun nuclear power plant and says they’re ready for any threat from the rising waterway.

We are trying to be prepared in case there is any flooding down the road here,” Jones says. “We have sandbagged some areas. We have filled a number of sandbags in case they are needed in other areas.” Jones says they’re taking a number of steps to protect potential danger zones.

“We’ve moved some equipment,” Jones says. “We’ve looked to make sure our flood gates are ready in case we need them. We are trying to be pro-active and be in a state of readiness.” In light of all that happened in Japan a few months ago when a power plant was washed over by a tsunami, Jones says people in eastern Nebraska and western Iowa don’t have to worry about any type of nuclear disaster here. He notes, the plant isn’t even running at the moment.

Jones says, “The plant is in a refueling outage so it is not operating but we want to be prepared should we be completed by the time the river goes back down to make sure we’re able to operate.” He says they’re keeping a careful watch on the Missouri River, which may continue rising into mid-June.

Jones says, “The best thing that we can do right now is what everyone else is doing and that is to keep a very close eye on the river and if it starts to rise, to make sure we are taking the appropriate steps.” The Fort Calhoun plant is reportedly designed to handle 14-to-15 additional feet of water from the current stage.

(Matt Kelley/Radio Iowa)