Disasters waiting to happen

Popular Mechanics looks at five American disaster scenarios, caused or worsened by our aging infrastructure, that could threaten many, many lives and/or dollars. I knew about the levee problems in Sacramento, and of course the NYC hurricane scenario, but I didn't realize there's a potential infrastructural disaster-waiting-to-happen right here in Tennessee:

Seepage through the numerous holes that have been discovered in the foundation of Kentucky’s 55-year-old Wolf Creek Dam put it in danger of failing. In a worst-case scenario, the mile-long structure, which holds back the largest manmade reservoir east of the Mississippi, would release a wall of water, inundating towns and cities downstream along the Cumberland River, including Nashville. The warning was sounded last January, after engineers were forced to drop the dam’s water level to avoid a potential disaster.

Yikes. (Hat tip: InstaPundit, who points out that our crumbling infrastructure remains a low political priority, despite obvious wake-up calls like Hurricane Katrina and the Minneapolis bridge collapse, because "the political rewards for fixing old stuff are far inferior to the political rewards for building new stuff -- even if the old stuff is stuff we need, and the new stuff is showy pork.")

P.S. More here:

David Hendrix is the project manager overseeing the situation at Wolf Creek and said it’s unlikely that the dam will fail.

But if it does, the results would be devastating.

According to the engineers, in a worst-case scenario, the downtown section of the Cumberland River would rise 50 feet.

The flooded area would extend all the way up to Fifth Avenue.

The top of the water would be right at Fifth Avenue and Broadway and it would be a flat pool out to the river.

The Hard Rock Cafe on Second Avenue would fill up with about 17 feet of water.

According to the engineers, the flooding would last about 10 days in downtown Nashville before it receded.

Hendrix said the worst-case scenario would see damage greater that in the flood of 1975 that put Opryland under water.

Water would easily rise above the heads of shoppers in Opry Mills.

Hendrix said if the dam fails, flood waters would devastate communities all long the Cumberland River from Kentucky to Clarksville, but it would take a few days.

“Everybody gets this vision of a tsunami wall of water come rushing down the valley. It wouldn't be like that at all,” Hendrix said.

In Sumner County, residents in the affected areas would have about 24 hours to evacuate before they would see water levels rise.

Comments

[Andrew]

Don't you understand, it's far more important to spend our money on healthcare. It's for the children!!!!

(Hello Nancy Pelosi!)

[Doc]

And still they ignore the burning squirrel problem. Wake up America!