Dam breaks in SE Missouri

[BarnGoddess]

Dam breaks in Missouri - I watched this on Fox this morning as I was getting dressed for work.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,178652,00.html

The pictures were on Fox News this morning. Fortunately it seems to be in a sparsely populated area southeast of St Louis.

 

[Marthatex]

Three children are critical, according to CNN.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/12/14/dam.collapse.ap/index.html

Rainfall was not the problem, nor seismic activity or foul play.

Some kind of structural defect?

 

[BarnGoddess]

Thanks for the update.

 

[Norma]

Story Link

Failed reservoir wall was soil, rock, not granite

Published December 16, 2005


ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI -- Inspectors said they were astonished to discover that the collapsed portion of a mountaintop reservoir was made of rocky "fill" instead of the granite that for decades was assumed to be the main material, the state's chief reservoir inspector said Thursday.

James Alexander said the broken portion of retaining wall appeared to consist entirely of soil and smaller rock.

"We were shocked," he said.