Michigan dam failures. May 20, 2020

by **2dimes** on Wed May 20, 2020 10:38 pm

Some flooding. Hope everyone stays safe.

by **Lootifer** on Wed May 20, 2020 11:50 pm

Never thought I would see something vaguely related to what I do on CC... very interesting.

This is pretty crazy stuff, seeing dam failures like this is, in my experience, unfathomable - first rule of operating hydro plant is safety, and to see it neglected like this is very surprising - especially in a developed nation.

This is not going to be cheap, and Boyce Hydro sounds like they are proper fucked as FERG have a recent history of telling them to get their flood protection shit sorted. Clearly they havent done enough.

Billions of dollars of damage for a handful of MW... Methinks you are doing it wrong Boyce...

Of interest we has a similar thing happen in NZ not long back, but the failure wasn't on the hydro operator, it was the local authority's stopbank that failed.

https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/468 ... flood-2017

by **mrswdk** on Thu May 21, 2020 5:05 am

Lootifer wrote:to see it neglected like this is very surprising

Unemployed local residents probably stopped paying subscription fees to Walmart (or whoever operates the dam) and so they got their Safety Services cancelled.

by **2dimes** on Thu May 21, 2020 7:07 am

I have not checked for updates this morning but as of late yesterday the Sanford dam was holding. You would think after the Edenville dam failed in addition to the implication that, the amount of water in the Tittibawasee is "a once in 500 year event." it would not have a chance, interesting.

by **Lootifer** on Thu May 21, 2020 7:22 pm

2dimes wrote:I have not checked for updates this morning but as of late yesterday the Sanford dam was holding. You would think after the Edenville dam failed in addition to the implication that, the amount of water in the Tittibawasee is "a once in 500 year event." it would not have a chance, interesting.

FWIW I think the standard we operate to on our big stuff (which this isn't so YMMV) is 1 in 2500 year event for earthquakes. Not sure about flood protection specs, but given Hydro assets (the Civil elements anyway) often have 100+ year life expectations, protecting against a 1 in 500 year event is pretty reasonable.

by **2dimes** on Fri May 22, 2020 7:00 am

So WDIV reported yesterday that Sanford dam did not fail. They did drain that lake though.

Also the town is mostly destroyed by the flooding from the failure of the Edenville dam.

Edit: Other reports indicate Sanford lake was drained because the levee broke as it was designed to do in order to protect the dam.

by **jusplay4fun** on Sun May 24, 2020 7:37 am

I assume that you post STOOOOPID comments like this to draw a response. Or do you actually BELIEVE such nonsense?

mrswdk wrote:
Lootifer wrote:to see it neglected like this is very surprising

Unemployed local residents probably stopped paying subscription fees to Walmart (or whoever operates the dam) and so they got their Safety Services cancelled.