Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2024/06/24/minnesota-dam-on-the-verge-of-collapse.html
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The civil engineers who built things to last 100 years turn out to have been very precise, especially given the older technology they were using.
Still, time goes by, and it goes by even faster when Republican and third-way Dem politicians over the last 40 years have prioritised tax breaks for millionaires (especially temporarily embarrassed ones) over maintaining vital public infrastructure.
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That doesn’t look like it’s on the verge of collapse; it looks like it has already failed. CBS coverage is in fact saying that it has failed.
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Alternative facts?
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i see the difference in terms. it’s “already failed” in the sense that it’s not stopping water from running around the side.
the other sense of failed is the even more catastrophic “the dam has collapsed” which doesn’t seem to have happened. yet.
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either way, that does say officials are recommending evacuation now
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Just let some* water over 1 time, and you’re forever branded a failed dam.
Pretty unfair.
*for amounts where some < all
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It must be horrible to live in the downstream area. Surely the government has to get some support in behind the dam. The spillway is failing relatively gracefully, but if the main span got a leak it would be eroded very quickly.
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Damn!
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I find myself thinking of Carnegie and the other robber barons far too much lately.
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I grew up in Minnesota, near Mankato, until high school 60 years ago. We had floods every year, but only the spring floods from snowmelt were large. This kind of flooding just from rain is (channeling Vizzini) inconceivable, but there it is happening.
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The ground in the area is sandstone. Minneopa Falls is a picturesque waterfall on a tributary two miles north of the failing dam that park rangers say has receded about 80 feet in the last 80 years. I suspect the Rapidan Dam lasted about as long as any dam could given the geology of the area.
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Update: the Strib posted a video showing how much the water has already bypassed the dam to the west. The river is cutting itself a new channel which may leave the dam intact but irrelevant. The good news from that is if the dam doesn’t burst, a sudden downstream flood disaster will be averted.
It looks like the original cause was debris blocking the dam that couldn’t be immediately removed due to lack of proper equipment. The 4 inches of rain we got this weekend rose the river level, causing water to spill over the top of the dam and over the west bank of the river. The sandstone bank quickly began eroding, and now it’s probably game over.
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Continuing the discussion from Minnesota dam on the verge of collapse:
Most of us live on the river valley hills, large parts of the cities along the river are on elevations decently above major flood levels. Some aren’t - looking at you Henderson, what even, every year - and some areas of places have sprawled into flood zones, but downstream there’s a lot of wetlands, parks, forests, farm fields and fallow fields that will scoop up the deluge if there is a total failure. Most people I’ve spoken with are more worried about helping out the people are are going to be really affected, like the owner of the Rapidan Dam Cafe and the like, and way more concerned about the people in places like Waterville than the dam situation. The rest of us are just keeping an eye on what roads are being closed due to flooding. River cities north of Mankato are cresting in a couple of hours, which will definitely help if there’s a complete failure.
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Part of the house at the edge of the dam fell last night, 6/25/24 around 9:30 PM.
Edit to add a better video:
The house falls at the very beginning of this video; a large tree near it falls at about 0:40 ↓
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