Would you have time to grab your BOB?

In Googling the nearly catastrophic failure of southern California's San Fernando Dam during the 1971 Sylmar earthquake, I came across this interesting overview of major dam disasters done for the state of Oregon.

I had forgotten about the Teton Dam disaster in Idaho in 1976. Now vaguely recall news reports of it.

http://www.oregon.gov/owrd/SW/docs/dam_safety/M2_Mills_%20Historical_Dam_Failures_and_Modes.pdf


Had no knowledge of California's "St. Francis Dam Disaster" -- the "worst civil engineering failure of the 20th Century" (according to a Smithsonian magazine article). Very interesting article that chronicles southern California's water wars and the remarkable trajectory of one William Mulholland.

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/oc...0954543/?no-ist



"Completed on May 4, 1926, the St. Francis Dam stood nearly 200 feet tall, 700 feet long and covered 600 acres. Built into a sparsely populated mountainous canyon about 47 miles northeast from downtown Los Angeles, the area’s residents consisted mostly of farmers and workers at the dam or hydroelectric power plants, known as Powerhouse #1 and Powerhouse #2. It was the largest arch-supported dam in the world, with the ability to hold over 12 billion gallons of water, about two years worth of water for the city of Los Angeles. It cost $1.3 million to build, which was actually under budget - a tendency for a Mulholland-led project. It was Mulholland himself who opened the gate on the morning of May 13 to fill up the reservoir at a rate of 70 million gallons a day.

Less than two years later, the dam collapsed."



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If it is not right at hand or in the car, you will not have time. You may not have time to get out yourself.

One survivor of the St.Francis dam disaster exited his home through the rear, uphill portion of his house. He never saw again the rest of his family, who left via the front door.

Th Santa Clara River, the drainage on which the St. Francis dam was built, is just an easy bike ride from my house. The county government center permanently displays a chilling series of photographs of the flood area taken the day after the break.

Never mind the BOB, just get out (remember to walk uphill). Same issues in a tsunami.

My humble opinion it's that you will not even have time to get our of the house like others said, unless you are in a fovrabtleble position like clos to an hill. I recall reading some stories of survivors of the Vajont dam disaster telling that thei heard a distant growl and seconds later the water came, some survived just because their house was 50 cm above the others. So basically little to no warning and you can't outrun water.

Edit: further information en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vajont_Dam

I was down in the Ozarks last year, and visited the Taum Sauk Hydroelectric Power Station when I was there.

It also has some recent history of failure as well:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taum_Sauk_Hydroelectric_Power_Station

Nobody died from this, but the Park Ranger downstream watched his house float by when the water hit.

Closer to home, the Delhi Dam failed back in 2010 due to heavy rain.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delhi_Dam

This was a "Private Dam", providing a lot of lakefront access to homes in the area. The State had no interest in replacing it as the Army Corps of Engineers said it was a detriment to Trout. But apparently the people who had their $250+ thousand dollar "Lake Front" home turned into "Mud-Pit Front Homes" yelled enough to get some funding to get it replaced. I can see their point of view too..

Shame to lose all that water. We could sure use it now here in California.