Hoover dam potential target?

[notfred]

The hoover dam holds back lake mead, which is pretty big, but not as big as Lake Powell (Glen Canyon Dam) or the Lake Roosevelt (Grand Coulee Dam). All three of them generate a considerable amount of power, but I dont think either the Hoover Dam or the Glen canyon dam would be very good terrorist targets, simply because there's not a lot of people around them. If you were to destroy either one, the only casualties would be people on the dam, and maybe boaters near the top of the dam. however, there's really nothing for several hundred miles downstream from either dam, and by the time the water got to any populated areas, it wouldn't do more than soak some people's carpets. It would cost a lot of electricity, but having a power outage is hardly a horrible terrorist attack.


I dont know very much about the Grand Coulee Dam.

 

[vegetation]

Note that Hoover dam is only operating at like 1/3 of its generating capacity due to water conservation issues.

 

[Shantanu]

<< The hoover dam holds back lake mead, which is pretty big, but not as big as Lake Powell (Glen Canyon Dam) or the Lake Roosevelt (Grand Coulee Dam). All three of them generate a considerable amount of power, but I dont think either the Hoover Dam or the Glen canyon dam would be very good terrorist targets, simply because there's not a lot of people around them. If you were to destroy either one, the only casualties would be people on the dam, and maybe boaters near the top of the dam. however, there's really nothing for several hundred miles downstream from either dam, and by the time the water got to any populated areas, it wouldn't do more than soak some people's carpets. It would cost a lot of electricity, but having a power outage is hardly a horrible terrorist attack. >>



Yeah, but think of the infrastructure and property damages. Why do you think the two planes hit the World Trade Centers instead of perhaps an apartment complex in Brooklyn? Taking out the Hoover Dam would create a water shortage in Los Angeles, and leave the people of Las Vegas completely without water. Dehydration alone - during summer months - could kill countless thousands of people. Also, it would create a massive shortage of electricity throughout the West.

The World Trade Center collapse is something that we can recover from. Those businesses can relocate elsewhere in Manhattan for the time being. If the Hoover Damn was taken out, it would take months - maybe years - to rebuild it, and in that much time an entire city would be without water or electricity.

 

[HombrePequeno]

If you destroyed Coulee Dam, there wouldn't be a huge amount of people that would be killed. This is because the region is very sparsely populated. The big problem would be an energy crisis. Coulee Dam supplies power all along the western coast; from southern California all the way up to B.C. It would screw up irrigation too. A lot of farmers would be out of work.

 

[Boogak]

I've been to Hoover Dam twice, that last being back in July 4 weekend of this year. It's not BIG big, but it's pretty sizable. However, I've heard that it provides most of the electricity for Las Vegas and Los Angeles, as well as providing water for irrigation. If that thing goes, I'd imagine it'd be a major catastrophe both in terms of flooding and electrical power.

 

[brxndxn]

Something tells me that since the damn dam can hold back so much water, an airplane crashing into it would be like an airplane crashing into a brick wall. I think the terrorists would need a different weapon.

In other words, an airplane would put a black spot on the damn dam and some damn dam workers would wash it off.

 

[FrontlineWarrior]

hey Skoorb let's not give terrorists new ideas for bombing

 

[Midnight Rambler]

Dams, nuclear power plants, and other key potential targets are all on very high alert and likely will stay that way (forever?). I imagine if you fit the profile and even sneezed around one of these places right now you would be staring down assault rifles at the very least. Suspicious planes or other vehicles would be terminated as well if they did not immediately heed warning or were known to be out of control/on target already.