| I didn't think they even HAD concrete retaining walls when it was built! To my knowledge, it was a levee. The earthen dam (it is a dam because it can release water, whereas a levee only holds it back) that contains Lake Murray (Columbia SC) I think is the largest in the country. Levees can be all dirt, dirt with a concrete shell and rip-rap at the base, or dirt with both sides covered with rip-rap. It's not unusual down here to have a levee with a road or even a 4 lane highway on top of it. I guess an argument can be made that it is a road - not a levee, but that would be splitting hairs, wouldn't it? My point is, who gives a shit if it was a dam, a retaining wall, or a levee, or if it was hit by a barge, a wall of water, or a freakin' asteroid? It's gone, it's no longer doing it's job, and the town is underwater. Personally, at this point, I think the government should take natures hint and abandon the town. If they rebuild it bigger and better it only opens the door for a bigger disaster some time down the road. It wouldn't be without precedent - the did it with Love Canal and Centralia, Pa. |
