#dam failure

Around August 19th 2024, Long Island was subject to about 9 inches of rain saturating the area in one day. There wasn't much long lasting flooding, Long Island is sandy, composed of glacial deposits following multiple ice ages. Damage still occured and water catchments were drastically overloaded, nearby Stony Mill Brook Dam also burst

The pond's dam was constructed in the very late 1700s to service a grist mill, then known as the Blydenburg-Weld House, the pond recieved its name because (like most recreational ponds in the Americas) it is not a natural feature, intentionally flooded leaving behind many stumps. Given their rot resistant longevity in the environment (and presence next to the former water channel visible in image 1) I would say the stumps were Atlantic White Cedar, a species still present but kind of rare in long island.

It was clear the earthen dam couldn't take the pressure of modern weather, intense weather events are becoming more frequent in a warming climate (higher temperatures increases air saturation which leads to more intense storms). There is a 50' chasm (visible in the image below middle-left) where the dam was, rebuilding a proper dam would take millions of dollars.

While Suburban Long Islanders might lament the loss of this recreational pond (my aunts included) I honestly think this is a great habitat restoration opportunity. The former pond was frankly hazardous, frequently subject to toxic algae blooms triggered by surbanite fertilizer treatments (my biggest pet peeve).

The Nissaquogue River channel is still present in the topography, while 200 years of sedimentation has created a hazardous deep mud/peat deposit, plants have begun to reclaim the dry bed (last image). I believe personally a floodplain restoration would be the easiest future environmental/recreational use for this area but Long Island is not known for caring about the environment (endless sprawl) so...we shall see. Rebuilding the pond would still be better than another strip mall/suburb/golf course/highway.

Nineteen people have been confirmed dead and more than 3,000 need to be rescued after a dam collapsed in a remote part of land-locked Laos, local media reported on Wednesday.

The Vientiane Times, citing district governor Bounhom Phommasane, said about 19 people have been "found dead", more than 3,000 "require rescue" and about 2,851 have been saved.

Earlier, a senior Lao government official, who declined to be identified because he was not authorised to speak to the media, said dozens of people were feared dead after the hydropower dam that was under construction collapsed on Monday.

"We will continue with rescue efforts today but it's very difficult, the conditions are very difficult. Dozens of people are dead. It could be higher," the Vientiane-based official told Reuters by telephone.

Hundreds were reported missing after walls of water washed away villages and rescuers on Wednesday continued to search floodwaters for survivors, a government official said.

As you can see from the yellow and red dots which indicate danger, the united states is covered in them. unsurprisingly theyre in some of the poorest areas of the united state. 

By 2020 85% of all dams in the united states will be past their life expectancy, and the dams which won’t be past their life expectancy don’t mean they’re safe, the vast majority of those dams are still not technologically advanced enough for our modern society, nearly all dams in the united states are hazardous when looking at this map. 

It doesn’t matter how solid a dam is down river from a high-hazard dam. If the high hazard dam fails it will wash out all the dams down river, which will flood even the low risk dams, and can cause failure. 

The National Weather Service said Sunday, urging people living below Oroville Dam to evacuate. The evacuation was ordered because of a “hazardous situation” involving the Northern California dam's emergency spillway. The National Weather Service said the auxiliary spillway is expected to fail and could send an “uncontrolled release of flood waters from Lake Oroville.”

Thousands of people evacuated below the Oroville Dam, jamming roads...

TV news footage showed long delays out of Oroville, with officials urging people to move to higher ground. Gas stations were also packed.

Evacuation centers were set up in Chico.