Everyone in southeast Missouri goes to Johnson’s Shut-Ins in the summer. The “shut-ins” are a spot where the clear waters of the Black River have cut through ancient volcanic rock, forming a labyrinth of chutes, slides, gorges, potholes, waterfalls, and pools. The photo shows just a small portion of the shut-ins.
The Ameren power company says that the rupture that emptied its 50-acre reservoir on Proffit Mountain today released a billion gallons of water that flooded the shut-ins. The rocks themselves are, I assume, safe, but are the trees gone? I’d really like to know. And what about Elephant Rock?
Christopher Leonard of the Associated Press reported that “in a matter of minutes the 50-acre reservoir had emptied itself out with terrifying effect, turning the surrounding area into a landscape of flattened trees and clay-covered grass. ‘We’ll never see anything like it in our lifetime again,’ paramedic Chris Hoover said.”
As tragedies go this one isn’t that big a deal, I suppose, considering that part of the Ozarks is sparsely populated (as you can see in this photo of the reservoir, pre-rupture). But this is one of the prettiest parts of the state of Missouri — or it was, before today. I’d like to know what happened. If anyone can provide details of what happened to local landmarks and towns, please add to the comments.
Update: The St. Louis Post-Dispatch has a photo gallery of the damage; see “related links” column to the right of this story.
That’s heartbreaking news, Maha. I don’t know the area well (my mom’s family is from northwest Missouri, a very different ecosystem but still beautiful) but any quiet, pristine, lovely piece of America that gets destroyed is one too many.
Thank you, Teddy Roosevelt, for actually going out and looking at Yosemite and Yellowstone, and realizing that they needed saving.
BTW, glad to see you’re back where you belong, and not out getting sordid amusement on other blogs 🙂
Holy crow, it’s a miracle no one was killed. But not to worry, I’m sure Halliburton is standing by to clean up the mess.
Does anyone know who’s idea it was to put a reservoir on top of a mountain? That seems mind-bogglingly stupid from a ‘water flows downhill’ perspective. So now everyone around it has to live with the consequences of this error. I feel terrible for the people involved in the flooding, but I hope they sue the crap out of whoever built the damn thing up there instead of in a valley, probably wanted to save a few bucks in pumping costs by putting lives at risk.
Scott1960, it’s called “pumped storage”. They pump water into the upper reservoir at night, when demand for electricity is low, then at times of peak demand they let the water flow down through the turbines to generate electricity.
The power company has a good reputation, and the area has enjoyed reliable and very cheap electricity for many years. But stuff happens, I guess.
Elephant Rocks is relatively distant from the Black River valley and slightly elevated. Based on my rememberance of the area, I don’t think there is any chance that water from this event could reach there.
Can you imagine hiking the Ozark Trail and BAM! – wall of water? Geez, very weird, very weird. Like getting hit by a bus, the last thing you’d expect to happen to you that day.
Oh, and what about the campgrounds at Johnson’s Shut-ins? There had to be someone camping there. I’ve been the only fool camping there in the middle of winter. I pray there were no fools there this morning.
It may be a few days before we know for sure if no one died. But if this had happened in summer it would have been much, much worse.