Lake Delhi (Iowa) over flows dam!

[Bubba1235]

Buddy of mine in Iowa just called and told me the worst has happened. Lake Delhi has the flood gates wide open but it isn't enough and the water is going over the berm and washing it out.

1200 residents around and below the lake are scrambling to get out what they can, but its not going well at all. Unofficially, 7 boats went through the spillway and came out in pieces on the other side.

 

[marlboro180]

Re: Lake Delhi (Iowa) over flows dam!

That is terrible. Hope they make it out okay. A lake here in WI did that here a while back...big mess.

 

[bassman284]

Re: Lake Delhi (Iowa) over flows dam!

Channel 9 news saying there are several breachs in the road/berm to the south and the road from the north is being undermined. They were reporting from there earlier this morning but apparently decided to go home. Now they're flying a cameraman up there in hopes, I guess, of being there when she blows.

 

[DaNinja]

Re: Lake Delhi (Iowa) over flows dam!

All of my in-laws live near the Des Moine River in SE Iowa. I guess I need to keep track of this.

 

[bassman284]

Re: Lake Delhi (Iowa) over flows dam!

Update from KCRG:

http://www.kcrg.com/

I don't think the Des Moines river is affected by this although it is slightly above flood stage in some places. The towns affected along the Maquoketa river are Hopkinton and Monticello.

A narrow band of heavy rain went through that area yesterday and last night dropping 8 to 11 inches. Same band that ended up flooding the Chicago area.

 

[marlboro180]

Re: Lake Delhi (Iowa) over flows dam!

Wow, yes it did. But that was a lot of rain as well. Hardly any structure can take that kind of pressure over time , sad as that is..

 

[jbjennings]

Re: Lake Delhi (Iowa) over flows dam!

I noticed the newslady asked with this curious look on her face, "what do you suppose caused the dam to break?????"
His response---"...too much water......"
What he probably wanted to say----- "Here's your sign".
JBJ

 

[SS MAYFLOAT]

Re: Lake Delhi (Iowa) over flows dam!

Mother nature can sure throw a wrench at us at times. I had read an article awhile back about many of our dams that were built years ago are filling up with silt/mud at the bottom of the dams which limits the amount of water that can be held back. This is about what they said could happen if they cannot be successfully cleared of the silt/mud in the bottom of the lake.

 

[STARCRAFT16SS]

Re: Lake Delhi (Iowa) over flows dam!

Hmmm...I see alot of new future project boats...
Hmmm...Does the Dam get rebuilt?...Is there a large enough river with the
Dam gone for the home owners to use their boats???.....New property lines
for river access??...Falling property values on both sides of the dam....
OUCH

 

[bassman284]

Re: Lake Delhi (Iowa) over flows dam!

If you or somebody else doesn't take them as a project I think a lot will end up in a landfill. Looked like some of them might end up beyond the project stage.

I hadn't heard that the Corps wanted it gone. 2 or 3 years ago they were talking about starting up hydroelectric operations and the main thing that slowed that down was the 2008 flood. Seems that I heard within the past year that plans were back on track. I'm in North Liberty, IA BTW.