What states 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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That water would likely cover an area of 10 million acres (4 million hectares) 1 foot (30 centimeters) deep. To put that area in perspective, the entire state of New Jersey is 9 million acres (3.6 million hectares). Downriver towns and major cities would see the most damage, in the event of the dam's physical collapse.

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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. However, they also predict the dam's turbines without human intervention would shut down within two years.

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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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FOUR CORNERS MONUMENT IS OPEN! This unique location marks the point at which the borders of four different U.S. states meet: Utah, Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico. It's the only place in the United States where you can be in 4 states at the same time!

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The oldest operational dam in the world, the Lake Homs Dam in Syria, was built around 1300. The masonry gravity dam is over one mile long, 23 feet high, and creates Lake Homs, which still supplies water to the people of Homs today.

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During 1983, record flows into Lake Mead were recorded. The record surface elevation was recorded on July 24, with more than two feet of water spilling over the raised spillway gates of Nevada and Arizona. The record flows through the spillway tunnels again caused erosion in the concrete base, which had to be repaired.

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Hoover Dam, spanning the Arizona-Nevada border about 30 miles southeast of Las Vegas, is the most-visited dam in the world, counting some 7 million tourists a year.

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According to reports, the structure of the dam creates such a hugely powerful updraft that the air pushes things back against gravity. The dam is shaped like a bow. This structure is the main reason for this unique phenomenon where even the water is pushed upwards by the air.

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