The Austin Dam Disaster of 1900
The Austin Dam Disaster of 1900

Author: Elizabeth H. Clare

Publisher: Arcadia Publishing

Published: 2018-01-29

Total Pages: 135

ISBN-13: 1439663890

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The Austin Dam Disaster of 1900 recreates the era of Gay Nineties Austin, then--as now--a city on the rise and on the make. In 1891, at the behest of ambitious city fathers, the little city of just 15,000 people gambled its future on a project of breathtaking size--a massive hydroelectric dam across the Colorado River. This book follows the epic construction project and the brief golden era of the pleasure resort at Lake McDonald. Though troubled and controversial from the get-go, the dam embodied all of Austin's dreams. Then, on Friday, April 6, 1900, it began to rain . . .

St. Francis Dam Disaster
St. Francis Dam Disaster

Author: John Nichols

Publisher: Arcadia Publishing

Published: 2002-10-01

Total Pages: 136

ISBN-13: 9780738520797

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Minutes before midnight on the evening of March 12, 1928, the St. Francis Dam collapsed. The dam's 200-foot concrete wall crumpled, sending billions of gallons of raging flood waters down San Francisquito Canyon, sweeping 54 miles down the Santa Clara River to the sea, and claiming over 450 lives in the disaster. Captured here in over 200 images is a photographic record of the devastation caused by the flood, and the heroic efforts of residents and rescue workers. Built by the City of Los Angeles' Bureau of Water Works and Supply, the failure of the St. Francis Dam on its first filling was the greatest American civil engineering failure of the 20th century. Beginning at dawn on the morning after the disaster, stunned local residents picked up their cameras to record the path of destruction, and professional photographers moved in to take images of the washed-out bridges, destroyed homes and buildings, Red Cross workers giving aid, and the massive clean-up that followed. The event was one of the worst disasters in California's history, second only to the San Francisco Earthquake and Fire.

Flash Floods in Texas
Flash Floods in Texas

Author: Jonathan Burnett

Publisher: Texas A&M University Press

Published: 2008

Total Pages: 354

ISBN-13: 1603443932

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How many times have you heard the television or radio alert, "We are now under a flash flood watch"? While the destructive force of flash flooding is a regular occurrence in the state and has caused a tremendous amount of damage and heartache over the years, no one until now has recorded in a single book the history of flash floods in Texas. After combing libraries and archives, grilling county historians, trekking to flood sites, and collecting scores of graphic photographs, Jonathan Burnett chose twenty-eight floods from around the state to create this narrative of a century of disastrous events. Beginning with the famous Austin dam break of 1900 and ending with the historic 2002 flooding in the Hill Country, Burnett chronicles the causes and courses of these catastrophic floods as well as their costs in material damage and human lives. Dramatic photographs of each event enhance the harrowing accounts of danger spawned by nature on a rampage. Together, the stories and the pictures give readers a vivid and lasting image of the power and unpredictability of flash floods in Texas.

Dam Protections against Overtopping and Accidental Leakage
Dam Protections against Overtopping and Accidental Leakage

Author: Miguel Ángel Toledo

Publisher: CRC Press

Published: 2015-03-31

Total Pages: 329

ISBN-13: 1315685353

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In the last decades, the technology of dam protection has undergone major advancements. The increasing demand for safety in modern society has created the need for cost-effective measures to protect critical infrastructure such as dams. This situation has resulted in the drafting of new regulations and technical manuals in countries like Norway, Sw