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#Post#: 2213--------------------------------------------------
On this day in history 2200 people die in a massive Pennsylvania
flood (May 31) 😳
DIR By: Michael Caswell
Date: May 31, 2022, 8:40 am
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[attachimg=1]
Read all about this tragedy here -
HTML https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnstown_Flood
[center]2209 people DEAD![/center]
This Johnstown flood ranks as the worst flood event in US
History, and sadly conditions exist along the Erie Canal that
can cause a repeat here in NY State. Mainly because people still
refuse to learn from their mistakes, and history can easily be
repeated, due to ignorance of dam safety by the public at large.
HTML https://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=2918360&page=1
#Post#: 2214--------------------------------------------------
Re: On this day (May 31)
DIR By: Doug K
Date: May 31, 2022, 2:15 pm
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That's quite a bit of water, big dam.
Now imagine a smaller version, along the Erie Canal, with only
about 200,000 tons of water crushing everything in its path.
But the real issue in a flood is drowning and according to the
soon to be released Earthen Embankment Integrity Program SEQR
package, that's about 340 million gallons of water to deal with.
And that water will spill out of a 150' long tear, in the side
of a canal navigation dam, and flow for 90 minutes until the
water can be stopped by floodgates and coffer dams.
It's all right here->
HTML https://www.canals.ny.gov/Earthen_Embankment/DGEIS/NYSCC_EEIP_Draft_GEIS_3-12-2021_Combined.pdf
The words are on page 3-16 and describes the "do nothing
approach" to the overgrown earthen embankments, which will lead
to failure.
[i][color=purple][center]3.2.3 Potential Impact of Alternatives
Under the Null or No-Action Alternative, any earthen embankments
would be left to fail. Prior to
any such failure, there would be no measurable impact to land
use within the canal right-of-way
or at adjacent property. At such time that the embankments would
fail, water contained within
the canal prism would be rapidly released. The risks associated
with such an event are described
in Appendix B. Depending on the location of the breach, the
surrounding area would be
inundated to various depths depending on topography.
A breach in a canal or feeder embankment having a water depth of
12 feet is estimated to occur
over 1½ hours, enlarge to 150 feet wide and discharge a peak
flow of between 5,000 and 10,000 cfs.
The resulting flood wave would seriously impact existing land
uses for the inundated terrain outside
the canal limits. In addition to potential loss of life and
damage to infrastructure, most of the flooded
lands would be rendered unusable until restoration projects were
completed. Lack of financial
capability to fund restoration work could leave some areas
unusable for an extended period of
time.[/center]
Engineers get paid to do calculations, which is how those
figures above were found. 5000 to 10000 cubic feet of water per
second is a lot. Use the middle point, 7500, and thats for 90
minutes, or 5400 seconds. The numbers get large fast. Cubic feet
to gallons of water is a internet calculator, along with the
weight of 340 million gallons of water. 2000 lbs per ton is a
standard number, known by most... you do the math.
Now add height to the equation, is the impounded water 15 feet
overhead or is it 50 feet? Higher creates a bigger debris field,
according to another "potential impact" of leaving trees growing
on Erie Canal Embankments. Don't be deceived by Facebook
discussions, this is a potential for disaster and should drive a
bit more public awareness.
HTML https://rochesterbeacon.com/2019/07/02/trees-on-dams-are-a-high-risk-danger/#comment-64553
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