The East Valley's man-made lake will likely lose two-thirds to three-fourths of its water after a rubberized dam burst and sent thousands of gallons of water gushing downstream into a dry river bed, authorities said.
The 16-foot-high section of the dam on Tempe Town Lake near Arizona State University's main campus broke open at about 10 p.m. Tuesday. There were no immediate reports of any injuries and authorities said no structures were in immediate danger.
"All of a sudden, we heard this ka-boom and the ground started shaking," said 13-year-old Lukas Henderson, who was biking on the northside of the lake with his sister and father.
Witnesses said the dry Salt River filled as far as the eye could see within seconds, and small animals could seen scrambling away from the floodwaters.
Warning sirens began wailing within minutes, and officers rushed along the riverbed to warn anyone - particularly transients known to camp on the river bottom during the summer - of the approaching water.
Water was flowing at 15,000 cubic feet per second, equivalent to the amount released during heavy storm flows, Tempe Mayor Hugh Hallman said. The lake was expected to continue draining into Wednesday morning.
Tempe spokeswoman Kris Baxter-Ging said its unclear how the rubber dam burst, but she said workers were speeding up an already under way effort to replace the dam's bladders. The project had been delayed earlier this year by winter flooding, she said.
The lake has four inflatable dams on both ends and the dam sections were supposed to last for 25 to 30 years. Tempe bought the dams in 1998 and filled the lake the following year.
Tempe officials determined in 2007 that Arizona's harsh sun and dry climate was taking a toll on the rubber dams and might have to be replaced in a few years. The city inspects the dams about once a month and repaired two tears in 2002.
Officials said in April 2009 they intended to ignore a safety recommendation from the makers of the rubber dams because sufficient safeguards were already in place to prevent the dams from deflating.
Last year, the cash-strapped city was working with Bridgestone, the company that built the dams, to come up with a stopgap solution for their replacement; Tempe could not afford to properly replace the aging dams, and Bridgestone was no longer in the business of making them but was willing to lease the city four replacement bladders.
At the time, assistant city manager Jeff Kulaga told the Tribune the old dams were in "OK" condition, "but they've been weathered for 10 years."
The lake can hold up to 1 billion gallons of water, Baxter-Ging said.
Rich posted at 12:29 am on Wed, Jul 21, 2010.
Bad ideas usually result in bad endings. This is the second lake there. If you've been around long enough you may have been out on a boat in the first, as I was. It was a dumb idea, proved wrong once. But we elect people who are inexperienced, incompetent and think they are developers because they got enough votes. They are dumb, they are elected by the dumber. Smarten up.
Masterrogue666 posted at 5:04 am on Wed, Jul 21, 2010.
Only a fool would make a dam wall out of rubber and air...
ClaudS posted at 12:52 am on Fri, Jul 23, 2010.
I've been hearing this news all over media. Also i can see several articles written about this news. The lake in Tempe Arizona is formed by a temporary rubber inflatable dam. When they gave the dam a life expectancy of 25-30 years, I don't think they accounted for the Arizona heat because it just burst after only 11-years. The water washed away a dry area where homeless individuals tend to live in the summer months. As of now, no reports have indicated anyone was hurt, but it is not possible to account for all the homeless in the area. It seems to me the city skimped on an installment loan and decided to put something up that wouldn't last very long. They probably figured by the time it needs to be exchanged it will be somebody else's problem.
LewisA posted at 3:23 am on Thu, Nov 18, 2010.
I haven't heard about this burst of dam at Tempe Town Lake, Arizona and, therefore was a bit surprised. Fortunately, no one was hurt. Though, I can't understand why it happens. Why can't the authorities watch the process of building for it to be professional in order to avoid such consequences of human mistakes? And what if people were there at the moment of bursting. They would be definitely hurt as the flow of water has a great power and damages everything on its way. No cash advance lenders would be able to help in such case.
ValenS posted at 2:59 am on Wed, Jan 26, 2011.
This news quickly spread all over the internet. Fortunately, no one was hurt. But this fact do not discharge those people who must follow probability of such cases and whose duty is ti prevent it. To my mind , dam wall out of rubber is not a great idea at all. Seems like someone decided to save on people's safety. And what will be their reaction if next time such a damb burst will hurt someone? Isn't better to make something helpful now, and do not just let people take bad credit debt consolidation loan later in order to pay for bad consequence?
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Rose Willington posted at 9:27 am on Sun, Mar 18, 2012.
It's unfair that such situation with the East Valley's man-made lake exists. Thousands of gallons of water are lost. Thanks for sharing this post. It makes my mind thinking.
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