It was never going to fail.
"In 1951, when it was built in Los Angeles, the Baldwin Hills Dam was hailed as a $10 Million Dollar State-of-the-Art Engineering Masterwork."
According to the above video. shown on Australian TV in 2010, it started with a pencil-thin crack. Watch the video. The History Channel has done a magnificent job of detailing what happened on December 14, 1963 in Baldwin Hills ~ while our country was still recovering from the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
5 people died. 65 homes were destroyed.
5 people died. 65 homes were destroyed.
600 oil wells were located in the Inglewood Oil Field on the eastern edge of the Dam. And not only that, as the investigators discovered at the time, the oil was being extracted from these oil wells using a method of extraction that involved injecting water into the ground around the well at very high pressure. Back then, it was called, "pressurized extraction."
Investigators concluded that seismic activity was the "hidden factor" in this dam's failure. This was 1963. In 2012, seismic activity has been an everyday occurrence around North Texas.
Even yesterday (June 23, 2012), there was another recorded earthquake near Cleburne, Texas ~ the 3rd one in North Texas since June 5th.
Dam. Dam. and Dam.
Moratorium on our Joe Pool Lake Dam. Amen.
Click here to read the March 28, 2012 story from the Fort Worth Star Telegram about "Improvements to the Dam." (There's a mistake in the story ~ the City of GP's Moratorium is through January 2013 and will be extended as warranted.)
**Update**: From the comments
Click here to see a current community blog from Baldwin Hills. These pictures are horrific.
http://baldwinhillsvillageandthevillagegreen.blogspot.com/2011/03/baldwin-hills-dam-breaks-december-14.html
ReplyDelete@Unknown: Thank you for this link.
ReplyDeleteThose landmen who were signing on entire neighborhoods were not even born until long after 1963. Isn't that how history repeats itself?
ReplyDelete@Fish Creek Neighbor: Just shows how history is so important to know and study...or we are doomed to repeat our mistakes over and over and over again. Doubtful that landmen (including Aubrey McClendon who began his career as one) have ever given much thought to any of the disasters from years ago.
ReplyDelete