I thought the same. Rivers can also be controlled by damming, as you probably know. I have a River behind my house that was dammed. It's the Occoquan Reservoir now (in Virginia). In the 1970's, the town of Occoquan was declared a disaster area (c. 1972) from flooding due to one of the fiercest hurricanes we have ever known (was it "Agnes"?). :lookingitup:
The Occoquan River had flooded the town. After that, the Occoquan River was dammed and became known as the "Occoquan Reservoir."
I remember canoeing on the Occoquan and being horrified that I was going to drift downstream and be caught up in a current that would swiftly carry me over the dam! When I finally saw the dam, it had a chain link fence across the entire width of it so that scenario could not happen. (Whew!) I have seen very high dams. I don't know why, but dams really give me the willies!
(Waaay) Off topic :naughty: , but I once met a man who had caught a catfish in the Occoquan that was as tall as he was. :liar: He showed me a polaroid photo of it hanging upside-down and he was standing beside it! He had been in a canoe when he caught it. The photo predated "Photoshop," so I believe it was real. He said the catfish must have been very old. (I'm not an avid fisherman, so I would love someone to weigh-in on this one, as I am skeptical about the canoe part of the anecdote!) :fishy: :worms: