Posted on 10/18/2005 10:05:14 AM PDT by Red Badger
TAUNTON, Mass. (AP) - A damaged, century-old dam continued to hold Tuesday as the water level behind it was reduced, but an evacuation order remained in effect and schools and highways were closed amid fears of a flood.
Mayor Robert Nunes said the wooden Whittenton Pond Dam upstream from the city on the Mill River had developed more failures about 2 a.m.
However, gates in the dam were opened to release water from Lake Sabbatia and relieve pressure on the structure, and the reservoir's level had fallen several inches by late morning, officials said at a briefing.
"As the water level decreases, it will be taking a load off the structure and that's what everyone is looking for," said Matthew Bellisle, a private engineer who inspected the dam.
"The condition of the dam at Whittenton Mills has not deteriorated significantly over the past several hours," Nunes said.
City officials said Monday that the 12-foot-high dam was buckling, and later a timber column washed away and officials warned that the entire structure could fail. Early Tuesday, more wooden timbers failed, allowing additional water to leak through and under the dam.
"I've got my fingers crossed that this thing is able to hold," Gov. Mitt Romney said Tuesday morning. "Water's going under the dam. It's going through some areas that are weakened and there's every prospect that it will give way and we'll have a very significant water event.
"On the other hand, a few of us can hope that it hangs together and it ties together as long as possible and that the water is able to leak out in a relatively controlled manner," he said.
Taunton, a city of nearly 50,000 people, has received 11 1/2 inches of rain this month, including more than 7 inches from Friday through Sunday, according to the National Weather Service.
Nearly 2,000 people were evacuated from homes near the river on Monday.
Police knocked on Paul Wapenski's door early Tuesday and urged him to leave, but he decided to stay because he lives just upstream from the dam and didn't think his home was in danger.
"If (the dam) goes, I want to see it go," said the 55-year-old welder.
Shops were mostly deserted Tuesday on lower Main Street, where Scott Weyant said he didn't have flood insurance for his karate studio.
"I never figured I'd need it," Weyant said. "We're in the city. You don't get flooded in the city."
The state Highway Department closed roads into Taunton and the Massachusetts National Guard sent teams to the area.
The newsroom of the Taunton Daily Gazette was evacuated, though several reporters stayed at the scene, publisher John Shields said. The paper is published at its sister newspaper in Fall River.
Taunton, a former 19th-century manufacturing hub about 40 miles south of Boston, lies at the confluence of the Mill and Taunton rivers. The working-class city was last flooded in March 1968 when the same dam was breached. City Councilor Charles Crowley, a local historian, said there was catastrophic flooding in February 1886 following several days of rain.
The dam was built to power local textile mills. A factory operated by silver manufacturer Reed and Barton now sits adjacent to the dam, but the dam is no longer used by industry.
It is one of about 3,000 privately owned dams in the state, Romney said. The dam was inspected two years ago and was considered in fair condition, he said.
Some repairs were made since then, Romney said, but "this water was more than had been expected or anticipated."
---
Associated Press writers Denise Lavoie and Richard Lewis contributed to this report.
It is Bush's fault. He had the dam attacked by beavers.
According to Farrakhan.
At any point during the last century, did anybody consider replacing this with a concrete dam?
While listening to FOX, I heard there is another dam further downstream..officials fear that if the weakened dam fails, the surge of water will take down that dam..sort of a domino efffect..anyone have a map showing the second location?
They sought advice from the New Orleans unit of the Army Corps of Engineers, and HIZZONNER Nagin...........
That would be the DAMino effect...........DAMIFINO?.......
I wonder how many billions they will demand...anything less would be racist!
The entire state is granite and they build that dam out of wood...go figure.
Lots of interesting dams up there built with granite blocks.
go to
http://maps.google.com/
put in:
144 West Britannia St., Taunton, MA 02780
That will show you the Reed and Barton plant near the dam. Then click on Satellite and you can see the satellite photos of the area and zoom in and out to see the other dams
Tragedy TV has choppers all over just waiting for the dam to collapse.
First time I used the google map feature. Very interesting. I notice, however, that while I can zoom in to see my house, I can only zoom in so far over China before it zots you out. Wonder why that is...
Stuff the "Swimmer" in the hole!
CE Ping
More importantly, will we see mass looting and rioting if the dam breaks?
They forced them to do that - India now complaining too.
Google site a worry
By Associated Press
Monday, October 17, 2005
HYDERABAD, India – Indian President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam expressed concern Saturday about a free mapping program from Google Inc., warning it could help terrorists by showing satellite photos of potential targets.
Google Earth, an Internet site launched in June this year, allows users to access overlapping satellite photos. Although not all areas are highly detailed, some images are very high resolution, and some show sensitive locations in various countries.
At a meeting of top police officials in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad, Kalam said he worried that ``developing countries, which are already in danger of terrorist attacks, have been singularly chosen'' for providing high resolution images of their sites.
The governments of South Korea and Thailand and lawmakers in the Netherlands have expressed similar concerns.
South Korean newspapers said Google Earth provides images of the presidential Blue House and military bases in the country, which remains technically at war with communist North Korea. The North's main nuclear facility at Yongbyon is among sites in that country displayed on the service.
The Google site contains clear aerial photos of India's parliament building, the president's house and surrounding government offices in New Delhi. There are also some clear shots of Indian defense establishments.
Debbie Frost, spokewoman for Mountain View, Calif.-based Google, said the software uses information already available from public sources and the images displayed are about one to two years old, not shown in real time.
``Google takes governmental concerns about Google Earth and Google Maps very seriously. Google welcomes dialogue with governments, and we will be happy to talk to Indian authorities about any concerns they may have,'' Frost said in an e-mail statement Saturday
COuldn't they use those choppers to evacuate people?...........nah, no story in that..........
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.