Because if there’s one thing that defines “expert” it’s the ability to reach instant conclusions;
Indian rescue crews struggled to reach trapped victims Sunday after part of a glacier in the Himalayas broke off and released a torrent of water and debris that slammed into two hydroelectric plants. At least nine people were killed and 140 were missing in a disaster experts said appeared to point to global warming. […]
A hydroelectric plant on the Alaknanda was destroyed, and a plant under construction on the Dhauliganga was damaged, said Vivek Pandey, a spokesperson for the paramilitary Indo Tibetan Border Police. Flowing out of the Himalayan mountains, the two rivers meet before merging with the Ganges River.
Video here.
Love it when any weather event is due to global warming. It was reported tonight that this February will be the coldest in North America since 1936. Yup, gotta be global warming.
Because completely naturally occurring phenomena – that have been happening for many millennia – are always absolute irrefutable evidence of global warming.
Large chunks of glaciers RARELY ever break away … Right? Oh. Wait. Multiple cruise lines actually all crowd into Alaska’s Glacier Bay just to experience the glacial ‘calving’. Oh. But that’s only because of your Pickup driving … Right?
I’m beginning to believe that Global Warmists are the DUMBest people ever to walk the planet … or profoundly mentally ill.
This is a somewhat different phenomena which has led to such floods through the millenia. This is a small version of the glacial Lake Missoula draining. So if this is global warming I guess the creation of the Scablands and the Columbia river gorge Washington state were caused by wooly mammoths driving SUVs as well.
Kenji, quit it, you’re warping the narrative. A lie told enough times…..
Seems there was a bit of rain in the region last summer/fall, no? May account for high water in the high country?
How about excess moisture! That is finally heading to the low country.
Wait until the bodies are found and tested. COVID-19 is as likely a possibility. Of course, it could be both global warming and COVID-19.
OMG! A pandemic of glacial deaths! The Horror. The Horror.
Indeed, this was a tragedy. I’m assuming that these dams were the “high, reinforced concrete” dams that we typically find here in North America, as these were reservoirs in the valleys of mountainous areas of India.
The greatest danger exhibited by this kind of reservoir is not the collapse of the dam. Instead, it is what happens if there is a massive landslide collapse into the dam reservoir. A massive landslide will result in a tsunami-like wave that will overtop the dam and almost instantly release a massive flow of debris-laden water downstream of that dam. This is especially so during a rainy season, when the dam’s reservoir is likely to be near its full capacity. A dam collapse, on the other hand, is “usually” rather more gradual, and presents warnings early enough that downstream communities in peril can be warned.
I would not be surprised to learn that the dams involved in this tragedy are still structurally intact. These kinds of reinforced concrete structures are really, really hard to destroy, and just overtopping them will not do the trick. It’s possible that the debris flow could have damaged the structures, but I think it unlikely. As for the other infrastructure at the dam… gates, spillway equipment, turbines, and so forth, those could well have been taken out by the debris flow.
We have plenty of opportunity for this kind of tragedy here in North America. Too many of our tall hydropower dams have been built in steep, narrow canyons, and a major landslide (or landslide/avalanche in snow-country) could yield a similar disastrous outcome. Our own disaster planners need to look at this and either figure out how to reduce the disaster potential, or start looking at removal of dams where this could occur.
Thinking of the Revelstoke Dam, which we visited a few years ago. Spouse, being a geologist, asked about the underlying bedrock, but got rather vague answers. So went on-line and discovered that knew the geologists who had done the original assessment and their findings were interesting, leading to increased cementing in the bedrock as well as the installation of monitoring stations. This dam provides a lot of electricity to BC and – I suspect – to Alberta as well.
Back in 1979, Christopher Hyde wrote “The Wave”, which discussed the possibility of sabotage of the Mica Dam (upstream from the Revelstoke Dam which was only started in 1978 and not completed until 1983), and the effect of a massive wall of water rushing down the Columbia Valley. In essence, everything downstream would be wiped out (good-by Revelstoke, Nakusp, Castlegar, Trail, and all riverside property in B C) and the devastation would continue through the USA (Washington and northern Oregon). It’s an American book, so the whole plot hinges on the danger to the atomic waste storage depot at Richland Nuclear Reserve, but still an interesting look at what happens when one of those dams fails. This is of more recent concern because an Islamist from the Okanagan was apparently very interested in blowing up the Revelstoke Dam, which caused concern to everyone but the authorities who allowed him to go back there to live after a jail sentence (I may not be 100% correct as to the jail sentence, but the man was allowed to return to the Okanagan or near environs).
Great dam comments! Enlightening.
Enlightening? Damn, great comment.
Sorry, couldn’t help it.
“These……. reinforced concrete structures are really, really hard to destroy, and just overtopping them will not do the trick
figure out how to reduce the disaster potential, or start looking at removal of dams where this could occur”
Contradictory information; check
Unfounded speculation-may, might, could; check
A job awaits you in the media. Don’t delay apply immediately or did you write that as a joke?
Reply
Nold – you may be right. There are reports that there were concerns about these dams, which may indicate they were not built to the standards DaveK assumes. Also, the comment has been made elsewhere that this “breaking off” from the glacier may have been normal “calving” which happens when a glacier grows.
That being said, this is a tragedy and needs to acknowledged as such. Many lives were lost, and families are in mourning.
There’s video of the dam being hit, this was a massive event, the dam was overwhelmed like a toy.
I’ve updated with a link to that, thx.
The way that canyon was scoured, it looks like that kind of event happens quite regularly in geological time.
The world is starting to look like a B sci-fi movie.
I’m sure the correct “Experts” were found to come to this concIusion. After aII, what do you think the famiIies of the victims; or reguIar citizens wouId do if they actuaIIy took the time to investigate what caused it? “GIobaI warming” just sounds better than, “WeII…..we buiIt these dams and other structures and the water IeveI rose significantIy. Yeah…some of this water wouId undercut the existing gIacier, and yeah…the water may be warmer than the water usuaIIy coming off the gIacier, and yeah, that may have weakened the gIacier. But a bunch of guys in BrusseIes say gIobaI warming is bad….so gIobaI warming it is”
Or..the oId tried and true statement. GIaciers are formed when eaons of snow accumuIate and the weight compresses the crystaIs into soIid ice. This happens every time there is an Ice Age. When the ice age ends, and the pIanet gets warmer (naturaIIy) the gIaciers start to meIt…..that’s what gIaciers do. Good thing too…..because as I type this, I am currentIy sitting in an area that once had a 3km thick sheet of ice over my Iiving room.
But….GIobaI warming is just easier to digest for the masses…so that’s our answer.
“But….GIobaI warming is just easier to digest for the masses…so that’s our answer.” (and it reinforces the institutional leftist rationale for totalitarian social engineering).
James, “I am currently sitting in an area that once had a 3km sheet of ice over my living room”.
I bet the heat bill was problematic back then eh?