A Ruth Lake Dam Failure
The Lost Coast Outpost has a timely article on what might happen if the dam at Ruth Lake failed due to some catastrophic event. I was wondering about that same thing myself with the events transpiring at the dam at Oroville and hundreds of thousands of people downriver evacuating.
I suppose it's not an instant worry as it would supposedly take four hours for the wall of water to get to Maple Creek, but how would people be warned? Some might hear of it on radio while others would rely on word of mouth. Four hours seems like an adequate time, but is it? Wouldn't it be best to have some sort of siren system set up for such an event?
I know most might not consider the expense worth it. I'm not sure I even do. Reports are that early concerns over the Oroville dam were downplayed. At the same time, it looks like most people were alerted and able to at least begin evacuation. I have to wonder how well word of mouth and radio will work to alert those in the flood zone should we end up with a worst case scenario with the R.W.Matthews Dam at Ruth Lake?
posted by Fred Mangels @ 12:40 PM
5 comments
5 Comments:
you have tsunami sirens up there
dont matter if water comes from ocean or inland
i watched KCRA tv channel 3 from sacramento as evac started and they used every way of communications including low flying choppers with loud speakers and said to use many languages to warn people TO GET OUT
a chat friend in marysville said he got cell phone call and regular land line call and email and heard chopper loud speaker
think it would happen the same in your area if it happen .
i had 3 phone calls , cell phone call and cop cars rolled thru when fire came thru last year . lucky i was just outside evac area
I do not think any part of Eureka would be affected by this dam failure. It would totally affect Maple Creek, Korbel, Blue Lake, Glendale and the Valley West portion of Arcata however.
You can receive emergency text messages. That covers a lot of people. Couple that with TV, radio and popular local websites, plus e-mail groups, social media, school robo calls, and the tsunami sirens.... I dare say we're in the best shape we've ever been in our ability to reach people.
There was an actual Blue Lake too....
People on Ocean Drive in McKinleyville had boat docks before the dam in Blue lake was removed and stilted in the river.
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