2-12-2012-dover dam flood-2005

part2 

       well at this point we had settled into isolation as no one attempted  the roads much before it iced over  as this intersection had fallen to same fate as many across the area as the water crept into places we never saw before. an erie quiet reighned over the area as it was now quiet as i have never heard it before. this road at any given time is subject to being drove on with as many as 6 cars a minute to as many as 20 cars per minute. at the very least it is nearly impossible to go one minute of one day with at least one car  or engine somewhere making noise. there was nothing nowhere except the wind and the ice cracking that tickled our auditory canals. 

       the ice was a rare treat as i have seen it before when i was a kid. i remember big hunks of ice resembling icebergs , cascading up one broken slope into another and would be found in some places ripping tree limbs away from trees . 

       the top pic reflects the water at its highest point. i was still able to take a 4 wheeler  and still make it through the water to my truck up frohmn hill rd. i sat in water up to the foot pegs in middle of intersection devoid of cars and took the picture. then it froze. 

      typical of ohio in the winterland it can be 60 one minute and start dropping and 24 hrs later we have the ice sheen above and new problems . all though it froze the ice on the road and made it easier to negotiate with vehicles . it also created new problems as on its way down it turned into freezing rain that took out the electric at the trailer. this was nothing new down there as it became a common occurrence to lose electric for less of a reason. it was a heavy ice storm , adding weigh to branches and freezing rigid as temps climbed even colder. i had the kerosene heater going and was tired of listening to the radio so i decided to take the dogs for a late night walk under a now full moon. my usual path at that time led me up a farm road into more dense stands of trees. at first in the open area the light was reflecting back in sparkles dancing off the watered snow  and this grew more intense as i neared the woods. the sound of crunching snow   and cracking ice could be heard as invisible forces were working on a now ice sheet. the wind would blow and more rustling would occur.
     i rounded the corner in the lane and let the dogs take me deeper into the woods. the light suddenly became more intense as now the light was reflecting tiny points of light from each branch and twig that could capture the moonlight and beam it back at me. giving the woods an aura of reflectivity to take your breath away. i was amazed as the trees silhouettes suddenly became towers of light collecting and spraying precious moonlight down from the heavens. it was a rare and wondrous sight . actually the woods were  more lit up than the open fields as well as the vast ice sheet that now covered the valley. beauty of this wondrous planet can always be found no matter how bitter the taste of life is in your mouth. i really expected nothing more than a good walk for the dogs , and ended up with one of the most beautiful scenes i have ever saw.
     it immediately reminded me of ex president george bush sr's , statement about a thousand points of light and not knowing or understanding what he meant. this is it , only times ten.

      the quiet , the light , and lack of modern conveniences seemed to transport me to a elevated awareness of how to view life differently adversity s just a key to your destiny allowing you to accept or try to change. in this case i was resolved to let nature have her will as there was really nothing i could do but go along for the ride. nature rewarded me.

      the next day it froze harder and now as watched the water recede i could imagine a new problem with the water impounded behind the dam. all this ice has to go through the dam and you are talking quite a few square miles of ice .ice floats on top of the water and as the water is pulled closer to the dam and the current will tug at the ice pulling  it closer. the construction of the dam as such allows for the water to be let out below the surface of the water. this all works great till the ice builds up behind the dam. my concern is that the ice would build up to a point eventually choking off the water exiting the dam as the current pulls the ice lower and chokes off the dams's flood gates . the ice would build in closer behind as some water would filter through the ice. it seemed as if the water was lowering considerably faster than the ice had a chance to build . it ripped all the trees limbs off thirty feet high . hunks of ice were hanging in the trees allowing one to see just how high the devastation was. the above picture shows ice after a one foot drop in the water level .
      i could just imagine the ice blocking the dam and eventually allowing the water to pile up behind it as the water doesn't stop if the dam shuts off. it still piles up behind it eventually piling up behind the dam and shooting over the spillway. imagine the engineers had the same concern and was making sure they sent every gallon down stream as fast as they could before it did freeze. if the dam failed under warm conditions then it surely would under freezing conditions and with an ice buildup and spillway over topping.
     the dam pressures and the fault condition could easily have pushed the dam further down he river. allowing water to escape under the footings on the dam and eventually creating a chasm that would allow he dam to tip and cause failure of concrete structure. at this point ice and water would rush uncontrolled ripping hunks of concrete loose and spilling millions of gallons of water uncontrolled down the river valley.
     tomorrow night i am going to attempt to portray my idea of how the devastation  would occur if dover dam failed . also in support of current repairs will attempt to describe why that may not be possible now. also i would like to express my opinions as to why we shouldn't be building in flood plains especially with increasing global warming. and although i criticize i also have somewhat of a solution to the problem of reducing flooding in general by changing our practices. tomorrow.