Flooding & Infrastructure Fail in Colorado

Six dams broke in Colorado yesterday, as a result of heavy rains and flooding. Bill McCormick, head of the state Division of Water Resources' dam-safety branch, warned residents "to be alert for damage to the hundreds, possibly thousands, of small earthen dams dotting the Colorado landscape, many of them too small to qualify for state safety inspections." State dam-safety inspectors were working last night to check "conditions on larger dams where failures could be deadly."

In Colorado, which has dammed nearly all of its rivers, hundreds of dams have become structurally deficient and in need of repairs.

According to a Division of Water Resources report for the year ending in October 2010, 359 dams are classified as high-hazard, meaning that their failure would probably kill people.

The state has dealt with deficiencies in these and other dams by limiting the amount of water they're permitted to hold.

Which naturally doesn't do much good when the state is under deluge from record-breaking rainstorms.

I'm so sorry, Coloradans. I am fearful and angry for all the people at risk of injury, property loss, and/or inconvenience because we collectively respond to infrastructure collapse (and climate change) with a yawn and a shrug.

[H/T to Deeky.]