LAKE DELTON, Wis. (AP) -- Gov. Jim Doyle says state workers hope to restore the water into Lake Delton as soon as possible.

Doyle says the lake is crucial to the $1 billion annual tourism industry in Wisconsin Dells. Doyle says that the Department of Natural Resources is trying to figure out how to replenish the lake and he expects a decision in the next day or so.

The governor spoke on a hill overlooking where flood waters forced an earthen dam to collapse, washing away three homes and snapping two others into pieces.

LAKE DELTON, Wis. (AP) -- Torrential rain and widespread flooding caused a 245-acre lake in the popular resort town of Lake Delton to flow over its banks today, emptying the lake and washing away four homes.

After a weekend of strong storms and record rainfall, authorities ordered evacuations and began sandbagging as rivers and lakes rose, jeopardizing dams in southern Wisconsin.

Lake Delton village trustee Thomas Diehl says the lake is dry.

He says about 100 people started sandbagging at 2 a.m. but it didn't work.

The state's Department of Natural Resources says the lake drained into the Wisconsin River after a highway embankment failed and water poured out of the lake, essentially emptying it.

State authorities were inspecting dams and waterways throughout the state today and residents were put on alert.

The DNR says Dell Creek Dam on Lake Delton did not fail.

Dams in Fall River and Wyocena in south central Wisconsin were breached with water flowing over the top.

The Department of Natural Resources is flying over dams in Vernon County and sending engineers to other counties to assess dams there, including Columbia, Dodge, Sauk and Jefferson. Dams in Vernon County were also being monitored.

In Columbus, more than 100 people were evacuated today from an apartment complex, condo building and in several homes with airboats. Water from the Fall River dam was released to keep it from failing. But, Mayor Nancy Osterhaus says it's only made flooding elsewhere worse.