Workers hurriedly tried to shore up a rural Utah dam after a 60-foot (18-meter) crack sent water pouring into a creek and endangering the 1,800 residents of a downstream town.
State and local leaders don’t think the Panguitch Lake Dam is in imminent danger of breaking open but have told residents to be prepared to evacuate if conditions worsen. Emergency management officials passed out a list of evacuation procedures to worried residents at a Wednesday evening town meeting meant to mitigate panic.
“This can be orderly,” he said. “If the notice is that the dam has broken or breached, we have time. The estimation is roughly two hours before those floodwaters are really inundating the town.”
Wow. This is like assuming everyone is sitting at home ready to go on a moments notice.
That’s literally why they are telling people to prepare now. The 2 hours notice is if the dam breaks, not two hours from right now.
This is the warning so people can have things ready to go.
There are tens of thousands of these relatively small, old, and questionably-engineered dams all across the US.
We make a big deal about Congress passing big infrastructure bills once in a while and that’s better than nothing, but our budget for basic inspections and maintenance chronically remains too low.
Most of the money from those big bills end up going to a ton of small projects like this, the media coverage just makes it look like it all goes to a couple big projects.
Most are solid engineering. The bigger issue is that they haven’t had meaningful maintenance in decades. Nothing really holds up to that much neglect.
The earliest life lesson I took to heart was to never live below a dam.
The town where I grew up had a dam break shortly before I was born, and we lived uphill from the riverbed. A lot of people died. I grew up hearing them talk about it for years. It made an impression on me.
Every time I drive past mansions on eroding beach side cliffs… like wtf are you thinking?
“My grave won’t matter because they’re not gonna find my body.”
“What will I have done?”
I forgot what I posted and just saw your responses in my Inbox and was honestly worried for you.
Peak internet bc one can empathize
That was amazing writing
A frightening situation. I wish them the best.
60-foot crack was my nickname in school
That’s a tall butt!
A 59-foot crack is one thing, but this?!
Can only hear this in Costanza
A family of beavers should be released at every dam to provide continuous maintenance and patch any holes.
