Runoff
by Jon Burch Photography
Title
Runoff
Artist
Jon Burch Photography
Medium
Photograph - Digital Capture & Enhancement
Description
The Lawn Lake Dam was an earthen dam in Rocky Mountain National Park, in Northern Colorado that failed early in the morning on July 15, 1982. Now known as the flood of 1982, the sudden release of 30 million cubic foot of water resulted in a flash flood that killed three people camping in the park and caused $31 million in damage to the town of Estes Park, Colorado and other downstream areas.
Lawn Lake was originally a natural lake with a surface area of 16.4 acres, located at an altitude of approximately 11,000 feet in the Rocky Mountains. In 1903 a group of farmers from Loveland built a dam to increase it to a surface area of 48 acres for the purpose of providing water for irrigation in Loveland. Over the years the road that had been cut to permit construction of the dam fell into disrepair and ceased to exist and because of the dam's remote and difficult location, inspection and repairs lapsed. The Colorado State Engineer determined that the probable cause of the dam failure was deterioration of lead caulking on the joint between the outlet pipe and the gate valve leading to internal erosion of the earth-fill dam.
Image copyright 2018 Jon Burch Photography
Uploaded
December 23rd, 2018
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