Realizing that many don't live near the Missouri River and it might seem insignificant, the current situation and impending situation could have devastating affects upon this entire country.
In an opinion column last week a former USGS official, Bernard Shanks, offered a frightening scenario of dam failure. He theorized that a domino effect of catastrophic failures of dams more than a half-century old, could trigger a flood of biblical proportions that would consume bridges and cities while splitting the nation in two.
http://www.stltoday.com/news/opinion/article_2b1eeca2-e701-51dd-83c2-f7bcc81845a4.html
At Gavins Point Dam near Yankton, South Dakota, 150,000 cubic feet per second is currently being released. Normal release time of year is around 30,000 cubic feet per second. The same situation is happening at the other dams above Gavins Point.
This situation will remain until at least September. That doesn't take into account any additional rain.
Countless sewage treatment plants, toxic waste sites and even Superfund sites would be flushed downstream.
This is horrible. Let's hope for the best and prepare for the worst.
Thanks for posting that, Jerry.
The Shanks article fails to mention (or make it clear) that the Fort Peck Dam actually failed during construction in September 1938, an event that killed eight men.
The Yellowstone River that flows past my home town of Sidney, Montana is probably higher then it has been in years or maybe setting a record....and that water is coming downstream into Missouri and that high water was even before the traditional June raise.
Which would eventually pass by my house
1500 miles wide?! Is that even possible? JRL
Obviously that distance has to be an error. Maybe they meant to say 1,500 meters. The historic Missouri River plain through the Dakotas and along the Nebraska/Iowa/Missouri borders are confined by high bluffs. At one point below Sioux City the plain is about 17 miles wide, but most is in the area of 5 miles or less.
"...leaving a gap 1,500 miles wide"
I think that was meant to say "...leaving a gap 1,500 miles long".
That makes more sense. Dang reporters can't get anything right.
JRL
