I was reading about the St Francis dam disaster a few months back. I'd never heard of it before that. Terrible!!!

If they can't maintain the dams it seems the second best bet is to let people know the predicted "death zone" downstream, so they know their risks.

On the somewhat opposite side of the spectrum, if you haven't heard of the "Peshtigo Fire", Google it. It happened at the same time as the much more famous Chicago Fire.