OP
OP
fossyant
Ride It Like You Stole It!
- Location
- South Manchester
Now, that's a pilot....
Whaley Bridge - Toddbrook Reservoir Damage
- Thread starter fossyant
- Start date
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KneesUp
Guru
Just read that the Chinook helicopter was first sold in 1967, and the RAF are expected to be using them into the 2040s. That's a decent life-span for military equipment!
nickyboy
Norven Mankey
- Location
- You want hills? We got hills
Town didn't arrive after the dam, It expanded after the canal was built but it was there long before the dam
The historic centre of the town is right in the main flood risk area, it's not like they built houses in the flood risk area after the dam was built. Most of WB's later development post dam build was on the hills around the town such as Macclesflield Road and Buxton Old Road (to Disley)
OP
OP
fossyant
Ride It Like You Stole It!
- Location
- South Manchester
They had the old gravity railway to bring down stone from Dove Holes way into Bugsworth Basin for onwards shipping on the canal. Rode up the old railway last year. As said, the town's been there a long time, and expanded with the canal.
KneesUp
Guru
As a friend has just pointed out, we can blame the weather and climate change all we like - and it's surely a factor - but look at the photos of the slipway - there are clearly plants growing in it, and that's after all the water went over the top - there were probably more.
That indicates that a key bit of infrastructure hasn't been properly maintained. Plants grow where they can get their roots in, and then they make those cracks bigger. They have no place on a dam wall, and the fact that they are they suggest it hasn't been looked after properly, which perhaps is a result of all the cuts to funding the government has made because it "doesn't have a magic money tree*"
*exemptions apply. Money Tree (TM) may be available to bribe other political parties or to attempt to prepare for a disaster the government is willingly walking into.
That indicates that a key bit of infrastructure hasn't been properly maintained. Plants grow where they can get their roots in, and then they make those cracks bigger. They have no place on a dam wall, and the fact that they are they suggest it hasn't been looked after properly, which perhaps is a result of all the cuts to funding the government has made because it "doesn't have a magic money tree*"
*exemptions apply. Money Tree (TM) may be available to bribe other political parties or to attempt to prepare for a disaster the government is willingly walking into.
D
Deleted member 26715
Guest
I've been visiting the reservoirs in the Elan Valley near Rhayder for the past 10 years, even I have noticed the increase in foliage over that period.
ColinJ
Puzzle game procrastinator!
- Location
- Todmorden - Yorks/Lancs border
I've just watched an interview with one resident who refuses to get leave, saying it is "health and safety gone mad"... 
If you watch the video below, it is pretty obvious why the dam started to collapse!
I can't find it again, but last night I read a quote from a local resident who said that people in the town had been complaining for some time about lack of maintenance on the slipways - vegetation growing in them etc.
If you watch the video below, it is pretty obvious why the dam started to collapse!
I can't find it again, but last night I read a quote from a local resident who said that people in the town had been complaining for some time about lack of maintenance on the slipways - vegetation growing in them etc.
Ming the Merciless
There is no mercy
- Location
- Inside my skull
That's one powerful water flow. Now imagine the dam wall actually goes. That will seem like a trickle. It'll be like the mud avalanches you see from South America during El Niño years.
Drago
Legendary Member
- Location
- Suburban Poshshire
Absolutely phenomenal. One wrong move and those rotors would ground and there would be a terrible mess.
I see some wag has named the The Dam UnBusters.
KneesUp
Guru
I've just watched an interview with one resident who refuses to get leave, saying it is "health and safety gone mad"...
If you watch the video below, it is pretty obvious why the dam started to collapse!
I can't find it again, but last night I read a quote from a local resident who said that people in the town had been complaining for some time about lack of maintenance on the slipways - vegetation growing in them etc.
Are all those bumps in the water coming over the slipway where there are plants? I know Derwent has a 'bumpy' face on the slipway made with stones, apparently by design - I've always assumed it's to reduce pressure as the water goes over?
ColinJ
Puzzle game procrastinator!
- Location
- Todmorden - Yorks/Lancs border
I reckon that they are how the concrete plates were anchored to the clay embankment.
When you see how much the water flow was likely to be undermining the foot of the embankment, it isn't a surprise that the force of the water coming down plus the weight of the plates would start to drag them down. Once even a small gap had appeared, water would have rushed in and accelerated the process.
OP
OP
fossyant
Ride It Like You Stole It!
- Location
- South Manchester
They are water dispersers, so designed to be there.
Globalti
Legendary Member
Exactly what I wrote a few pages earlier. Take a close look at any old concrete dam infrastructure and you'll see that it's in need of maintenance with cracks and weeds everywhere. That spillway was doing exactly the job for which it was built but once water gets under those slabs it's only a matter of time before hydraulic pressure wins.
Dressed stone dams though are usually in better condition.
It's exactly what happened to the Oroville Dam in the USA In 2017.
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snorri
Legendary Member
- Location
- East coast, up a bit.
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ColinJ
Puzzle game procrastinator!
- Location
- Todmorden - Yorks/Lancs border
I watched one of those 'how did it happen' documentaries recently (probably on Blaze or Quest). The experts said that there are literally hundreds of old dams and levees in the USA which are likely to fail if subjected to this kind of stress. It will take years of work and cost hundreds of millions (even billions?) of dollars to make them safe. I bet the same applies here.
A few years ago I saw engineers working at the dam/embankment holding back Widdop reservoir on the moors between Hebden Bridge and Colne. They were drilling long holes into the embankment. I'm not sure if they were testing it or reinforcing it. They were working on the spillway too.
