What city would flood if the Hoover Dam broke?

Downriver towns and major cities would see the most damage, in the event of the dam's physical collapse. Water flows would engulf many towns and growing cities around Mohave county, including Laughlin, Nevada; Needles, California; Lake Havasu, Arizona; and even as far south as Yuma, Arizona, and San Luis Rey, Colorado.



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As it turns out, the man-made creation of the Hoover Dam and Lake Mead in the 1930s led to the intentional flooding of St. Thomas, a small Nevada town.

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What happens if Lake Mead dries up forever? If Lake Mead were to run out of water, the Hoover Dam would no longer be able to generate power or provide water to surrounding cities and farms. The Colorado River would essentially stop flowing, and the Southwest would be in a major water crisis.

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According to the website of the National Park Service (NPS), St. Thomas, the dam created Lake Mead, which flooded areas along the Muddy and Virgin rivers. During the early 1930s, Lake Mead began to form, and St. Thomas gradually disappeared under the rising waters.

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Once a Mormon settlement, St. Thomas thrived as a stopping point between Los Angeles and Salt Lake City along the Arrowhead Trail. Today, remnants of the town can now be seen thanks to the lowering water levels of Lake Mead, which is due to severe drought conditions.

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Key Points. Lake Mead has dropped by 70% due to droughts in the West and it will take many years to refill again, naturally. The reservoir is vitally important to millions of people as a source of water, electricity, and recreation.

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So instead of this even line of filled holes, you had what I described as sort of a mouth with a lot of teeth missing. Now, this wasnt a problem until Lake Mead started filling behind the dam and the pressure of all that water forced water under the dam and out to the sides and the dam sprung a leak.

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The Dam Future While the dam is expected to last for centuries, engineers predict the structure could last for more than 10,000 years, surpassing most remnants of human civilization if humans were to disappear from the earth.

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