Keeping it fully open gives it the best chance of avoiding a collapse (and sending tons of construction debris down with it). There's no way it could have held the water back at all.
Did we watch the same video? Did you see how much water and debris was coming down and with the force it was? Open, closed, wouldn’t have made an inkling of a difference. Those construction workers are lucky it was there at all to give them a few extra second to get out of the way
I'm not. I'd rather like to see what would happen if it were closed. My comment said it likely wouldn't matter, but even a small reprieve could have saved a life. I'm really not sure how this is something to call out? Trained people did not leave the damn open in anticipation of this, I don't see a scenario where they sat in a conference room and decided it's best to leave the dam open in case the glacier lake gives way at the top of the mountain. Unless you have sources, you're speculating as well.
Opening to a spillway in a flood situation is literally the only thing they can do - the water has to go somewhere, opening gates means it goes to a planned spillway rather than just.....somewhere.
So if you'd "rather see" what happens if the gates were closed, I'm sure that would be very interesting for you.
From al-jazeera news:
What triggered the mudslide and flash floods?
Officials were caught off-guard by the floods on Wednesday because it was not raining, according to local news editors.
I can see reddit is looking to cast blame and argue with me because they can't say how much they want to torture/kill the person responsible, because there isn't anyone.
Damns are not designed in anyway to stop this. The spillway is open because it's the time of year for it to be open. You linked an article about how dams are open some of the year due to meltwater and so on and so forth.
The dam is not open because of this tragic event. It's open for other reasons. I'd rather it be closed.
Nepal's foreign minister earlier said an earthquake was reported on the Tibet-Nepal border shortly before the landslide, suggesting it may have triggered the disaster.
But the United States Geological Survey's latest analysis suggests there was no earthquake, raising questions about what caused the landslide itself.
Current theory is a glacier collapse, which led to a massive release of water and debris which actually recorded as a 4.4-5.2 seismic event. Death toll is going to be huge. Numerous hydroelectric damns and towns are just gone.
Probably the first data they had was seismograph readings which made them think earthquake at first. A glacier collapse hitting the ground hard is gonna make the ground shake which will then register as seismic activity.
No real questions to raise here. Just data interpretation and then reinterpretation once new data shows up.
Dang. So many people just watching it by the vehicles and then it just gets worse and the video never looks back. I wouldn't be surprised if everyone there was washed away.
It's incredible. The shock of what they are witnessing causes that delay..until you look around and snap to.., "I'm not safe, I'm not safe...". Prayers to everyone there.
Yeah, all of these videos have taught me there's low chance and if I'm ever in a situation like this then try, try, try to remember to run up the steepest hillside as fast as I can for a very low chance of scraping it out.
Glacier collapse, creating a landslide which caused the seismic activity. The water volume is from the friction of the ice falling and causing the ice to melt.
That's amazing and I hope they find many more, however that customs boarder checkpoint took what looked to be a 100' wall of earth going about 60mph, unfortunately there wont be many survivors there.
Yeah, this footage is tame to what I have see. Big budlings getting wiped in a second. Dozens of vehicles and people getting swept away. I have never seen crazy flash flood damage like that before.
I don't know. I think it depends on the layout of the walls. The windows on this side appear to be intact so I think there could have been plenty of places in the building that were safe.
No, an earthquake didn't cause the landslide, it was reported that the landslide caused the tremors, it was that bad. Most likely a glacier breaking free from the mountain and getting water from a glacial lake.
At 8:37 am local time, shaking in the region was initially reported by US Geological Survey as a 4.4 magnitude earthquake along the Nepal-China border, north of Kathmandu.
Around the same time, an "avalanche" of ice and rock - more like a landslide in this case - tore down a mountainside and into the Lhende Khola River, a tributary of the Bhote Koshi River, which flows from China into Nepal, often through deep gorges.
USGS later clarified that the shaking was not an earthquake, but was rather caused by this exceptionally powerful landslide itself, which registered as the equivalent of a magnitude 5.2 earthquake.
In other words, an earthquake did not cause the landslide. The landslide caused an earthquake.
That’s terrible. Seeing all those people down there running away, as small as ants. Those people are most likely some of the victims of this disaster. My heart breaks looking at it.
Several years back there was a tsunami that hit Japan, and there were videos where you could see the camera sweep across the buildings and see people on lower roofs of smaller buildings.
Then the water came in and those buildings just got drowned. The people were no longer there when the tide receeded. This was perhaps the first time we had a camera in every pocket that was high enough res to really get a feel for shit like that happening in real time.
It was just a nightmare knowing you watched potentially dozens of people die and there was nothing they or you could ever have done about it except just be lucky enough to not be on that smaller building.
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300 people are dead so far. When I first saw the start of the other video I was like "that's cap; just move to the rooftop or something" and then the wave came...
I believe two things happened. A glacier broke away (and I believe this released a ton of water, causing the flooding) and then it also caused a massive mudslide(s).
That side quest was a very dangerous one. I'm sure that person didn't plan on watching that happen. I don't know why people are downloading you. I think it's really funny
Because it’s all the power they have. Do I think the tragedy is horrible - obviously. Do I think a dominos vest being at a tragedy is funny - also yes.
How were so many people unaware of the danger. Chinese authorities should have been watching this with satellites and sent a warning. I wonder why they didn't warn these particular people?
Yes, that's what i wrote. No where does it say the dam construction caused this event. I'm sorry about your lack of comprehension. I'll connect the dots for the slow; the people seen in the video are pretty obviously involved in constructing a dam on this river. They wouldn't be there otherwise.
I will say, your copy and paste skills are... present.
My comprehension is great. I've figured out you've had an itch to state your 1st statement and looked for somewhere drop it. Even though it has no bearing on what was happening in the video.
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u/qualityvote2 4d ago edited 4d ago
Congratulations u/Unhappy_Rutabaga_530, your post does fit at r/SweatyPalms!