How long would it take to restore flow? Would a front-end loader and a bulldozer get things fixed up in an hour?
Riverside County is updating warning and response plans in case an earthquake destroys the dam holding back Lake Perris
When Jackie Burnip looks out her kitchen window, a sliver of the imposing 2-mile-long earthen dam that holds back billions of gallons of water in Lake Perris looms above a flowering purple bush in her backyard.
It's a daily reminder, she says, of what state engineers announced last summer: Perris Dam might not withstand a powerful earthquake on the order of magnitude 7.5.
Although the popular swimming and boating lake has been lowered to what state engineers say is a safe level, a worst-case flood map generated by the state shows that a complete failure of its dam would unleash some 26 billion gallons of water across 30,000 acres of fast-growing western Riverside County, from rural Lakeview to the Prado Dam by Corona.
"What bothers me most is when an airplane flies close by and it kind of rumbles and what I say is, 'Oh God, please don't let that be an earthquake,' " she said.
"I'm not paranoid, but I think of the 'what ifs,' " Burnip said.
In the wake of Hurricane Katrina and deadly tsunamis, Burnip says she wants to be prepared for the worst scenario despite assurances by the state....
You're kidding, right?
I know nothing about those but the ones I do know about (East Bay MUD, San Francisco area) are 8-9 feet in diameter and above ground in many areas. I assume these are bigger.
Having all the personnel and equipment and supplies on the site if the break, I see a minimum of a week... assuming the site at the break has "drained".