NEWS: Missouri Reservoir Dam Breaks, page 1

posted on Dec, 14 2005 @ 11:55 AM

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In the early hours of Wednesday morning, the Upper Taum Sauk Lake Dam near Lesterville, MO, was breached sending a twenty-foot wall of water down the Black River. The Dam is part of a reservoir that is maintained by AmerenUE electrical utility. There had been heavy rains over night. Residents downstream were evacuated and there have been reports of injuries.

www.kansascity.com

Water poured through a breach at a hydroelectric plant's rural reservoir in southeast Missouri on Wednesday morning, washing away an unknown number of homes and vehicles, authorities said.

The breach occurred about 5:30 a.m. in the upper of two reservoirs at AmerenUE's Taum Sauk Lake Hydroelectric Plant, AmerenUE officials said.

One person had been feared missing but was later accounted for, authorities said. Gov. Matt Blunt said three or four members of the family of Jerry Toops, who is superintendent of Johnson Shut-Ins State Park near the base of the plant, were hospitalized in nearby Ellington after water swamped their home. Messages left at the hospital were not returned.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission was investigating the cause of the breach. AmerenUE officials said there was no sign of foul play. The reservoir sits near the New Madrid Fault Line, which often generates small earthquakes, but Blunt said no seismic activity occurred Wednesday morning.

Please visit the link provided for the complete story.

This is still a developing story, so information is still coming in. Three children have been hospitalized in critical condition. One person was thought be have been missing, but has now been accounted for.

Related News Links:
www.kansascity.com
www.disasternews.net
www.kait8.com
www.cbsnews.com

[edit on 2005/12/14 by GradyPhilpott]

QuietSoul

posted on Dec, 14 2005 @ 12:15 PM

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I live like 200 yards from where the Black River empties into Lake Erie in Ohio. I wonder if this will have any effects here.

GradyPhilpott

posted on Dec, 14 2005 @ 12:23 PM

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I believe this must be another Black River.

encarta.msn.com...(river_Missouri_and_Arkansas).html

QuietSoul

posted on Dec, 14 2005 @ 12:27 PM

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Originally posted by GradyPhilpott
I believe this must be another Black River.

encarta.msn.com...(river_Missouri_and_Arkansas).html

Good

The Black River here in Ohio isn't very large, so I was somewhat worried about a small sized 'lake' pouring into my city ;p

I'll follow this story closely.. so much weird crap happening this week..

Simon_Boudreaux

posted on Dec, 14 2005 @ 01:56 PM

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I lived about 20 miles from Taum Sauk and have been to the res many times...The picture sure doesn't do it justice as far as size wise..This thing is HUGE!....What I have heard so far is there was a seismic(sp.)event last night in the area but officials say it was too small to have done this..Local news here have claimed the breach was about a hundred feet or yards long and 500 to 600 feet wide!They have had problems with this reservoir before and "fixed " it with plastic of some kind a few years ago..There was rain last night but they don't think it caused the brach either...AmerenUE says that there doesn't seem to be any evidence of foul play.

This area is popular for camping and recreation..with Lesterville and Johnson shut-ins..and Taum Sauk has tours...Just lucky this happened this time of year instead of it being spring or summer time when hundreds of swimmers are in the Black River.

Here is one news station covering it.
KSDK5

Simon

sigung86

posted on Dec, 14 2005 @ 03:16 PM

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Between the anitquated water mains here in St. Louis always rupturing and the reservoir giving way, if we don't watch it we'll end up washing down to Arkansas.

But it seems to me that Missouri has a horrible track record of highway, bridge, railroad crossing and reservoir upkeep.

Simon_Boudreaux

posted on Dec, 14 2005 @ 05:44 PM

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They are now saying it was a instrument malfunction that caused it...

So far only five people have been injured...two adults and three children.

I was watching the evening news just now and they showed video...Johnson shut-ins looks like a nuclear bomb went off in it

Now it's a hole 200 yards wide.

sigung86 did you see the watermain break Yesturday?

short video
Quality isn't that great.

Busymind

posted on Dec, 14 2005 @ 11:26 PM

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Ameren UE says there was a malfunction with the sensors that monitor water level, causing the upper reservoir to overflow. The 5 injured people were all from the same family. The park keeper for Johnson's Shut-Ins, along with the rest of his family, were swept away by the water.

I agree that it's lucky this happened in the winter.