Enormous New Dam Fails In Brazil

New Scientist ^ | 7-10-2006

[tarheelswamprat]

"Dang, how do you fix THAT?" Super glue?

Import some beavers...

[ThomasThomas]

The film opens with voice-overs of the main characters discussing the "vanishing wilderness" and the corruption of modern civilization, while the credits play over views of the flooding of one of the last untamed stretches of land, and the imminent wiping out of the entire Cahulawassee River and the small town of Aintry.

The Background of the movie was about a Dam built in Georgia. Above is part of a review. I only saw the TV version and don't think I missed any thing I wanted to see.

[elli1]

This is a concrete-faced rock fill dam. It is considered to be the safest kind of dam because even if the concrete liner cracks and leaks, the rocks supporting the liner will not wash away. That's what appears to have happened in this case.

That's the conclusion I came to. The dam structure, that massive pile of rock underneath the concrete skin, did not 'fail'. I'm supposing that the cracks in the concrete could have resulted from the sudden release of stress when the water emptied out of the reservoir.

[dr_lew]

The dam figures in the plot when they discuss what to do with the bodies and make shallow rock graves for them, on the premise that they will be covered by the reservoir before they can be discovered. Then the last scene in the film, I believe, is Jon Voight waking from a nightmare where a hand comes up out of the water.

[garjog]

Import some beavers."

Can't do that. It would violate environmental laws against introducing non-native species. Better to let the dam break up so native fish and snails can live in peace with out human interference.

[BruceysMom]

LOL!!!

[dalereed]

"I put that we read The Little Boy and the Dyke"

Just trying to straighten her out were you?

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Looks like they start over....poor engineering or corruption in the building contractor.

[Caipirabob]

I knew some guys who worked on building dams down there. I wonder if this is why I can't find them now. Yikes!

[csvset]

Here's a couple of larger photos of the dam:

That's probably the safest vantage point at this stage of the game.

[KneelBeforeZod]

[aculeus]

"Blah, blah, blah." says Patrick McCully of the International Rivers Network, a California-based group that campaigns against large dams.,P>House slogan: Damn Dams!

[rlmorel]

ROTFLMAO!!!!

You aren't from my state, MA are you??????

[martin_fierro]

I wonder if this is why I can't find them now.

Nah, they're just repressed. < |:)~

[70times7]

Look more closly - you are seeing the resevoir side (thankfully).

[70times7]

Wasn't the movie " Deliverance " about a river being damed. Any of these rivernetwork guys in that movie?

I think the movie that applies here is "A River Runs Through It".

[stocksthatgoup]

Hugo Chavez will fix it!

[elli1]

1976 failure of the 305' Teton Dam on the Snake River in southern Idaho.

[BlueMondaySkipper]

Why did that old song, "Look for the Union label" pop into my mind when I read this?

Because your grandmother sang it to you when you were a baby (years before it was actually written)...

[Vinnie]

As a young teenager I spent 6 wks. in Brazil circa 1958.
While visiting Recife in N. Brazil, I saw a collapsed high rise apt. building. Not uncommon.

Apparently they liked to skimp on the rebar with disastrous results.

Maybe they use the same building techniques today.