This is not a flood control dam. There was never any danger of flooding due to failure. This is a dam that NSP (now Xcel Energy) built 110 years ago solely to generate power. They gave up on it in 1965 after the floods damaged it. The county then purchased it. The dam had a life expectancy of 100 years. The dam halted power production from 1965 to 1984. It ceased producing power again in 2019, after flood damage. At its peak, the dam produced only 23 megawatt hours of electricity per year. This amounts to $3000 per day, before maintenance, transmission, and labor costs. In other words, NSP knew what they were doing and the only reason for the dam's existence was the greenwashing of 'clean' energy (pre-2019), and the prohibitive costs involved with removing not only the dam structure, but the removal of an estimated 11 million cubic yards of contaminated sediment build up ($85 million in 2019 study commissioned by Blue Earth County). With the current situation as it stands, there is no reason to rebuild the dam. The environmental damage (very quiet?) has been done. 'News' crews are worried about a destroyed building that was moved into its location to sell products to the construction workers 110 years ago rather than focusing on the deposition of the sediment downstream. What does it look and smell like? Did the Governor look downstream and order the Commissioner of the State (or Federal) EPA to evaluate? Nope. Just worried about the store, it seems. Here is a bit of history for those interested in real news: The dam and powerhouse were completed by early 1911, and their electricity from the dam’s two 750 kilowatt General Electric generators flowed into Mankato on March 11, 1911 - one year after construction began. The output of the turbines at the dam more than doubled Mankato’s steam-powered plant capacity. However, there was no big celebration, no ceremonial switch-throwing when the power first made its way along the line to the substation on Elm Street. At this time, electricity was only used for lighting and not in every home. So, the power company was soon stringing lines to sell the power from Rapidan Dam throughout the area. In 1912 lines were strung to Lake Crystal and Kasota, followed by twelve additional communities by 1915. The dam gradually became obsolete. The huge growth in the use of electricity after World War I and the coming of rural electrification in the 1930s, soon outstripped the 1,500 kilowatts of capacity at Rapidan. When the Wilmarth generating plant opened on the north edge of Mankato in 1948 it had a capacity of 25,000 kilowatts (which is tiny in comparison to today’s electrical plants and grids). The hydroelectric plant at Rapidan delivered power to Mankato until the spring flood of 1965, when ice hit the dam with full force and a phenomenal peak discharge of 43,100 cubic feet of water per second (compared to 2024 peak of 36,500 cubic feet per second). The dam was damaged, and the powerhouse was flooded making the hydroelectric plant inoperable. In 1980, after the Windfall Tax Act and the Public Utilities Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 were passed, the hydroelectric market was revived, and Rapidan Dam was one of the first hydroelectric facilities to be renovated with public and private sector cooperation. The dam once again began producing hydroelectric power in 1984. In 2002, extensive undermining of the dam’s foundation was discovered, and emergency repairs were required to prevent a dam failure. Additional apron, foundation, and abutment repairs have been conducted since 2002. The Dam Store has become a staple in Blue Earth County. But did you know that this little store and café dates back to 1910? The building, which originally stood in the village of Rapidan Mills, was moved to its current location and opened as a store in 1910 by George Nelson (1910-1937). Nelson catered to the men who worked on the construction of the dam, and he picked up business from those who traveled to the Blue Earth River to fish from its waters.
The decision to permanently seal off two of the seven gates was absolutely idiotic. Where's the study / report that authorized that, who signed off on it, etc? Time to do some investigative journalism Kare11!
In the end, this is likely what will have to be done, I think, tho I admit I am no expert. The water flowing around the dam is creating an eddy whirlpool, as can be plainly seen in the video. As the rushing water swirls around, it will continue to erode the cliff it's already formed where the floodwaters beached the dam. Without removing the dam, which is impeding the river's most natural flow, that erosion will continue indefinitely. And, the dam having been breached so badly, it can no longer serve the purpose it was built to serve.
@@EstorilEm clearly the dam is nothing more than an obstruction at this point..... because of an accident. So, it's useless and harmful at this point. 🤦♀️
@@nickcourtright9914 how is it harmful? The water flow above and below the dam is identical - best case, it’s simply an extra chunk of concrete 🤦♂️ It served a purpose originally (again, they didn’t get bored and decide to build a random dam) and it needs to serve a purpose today. Flood control, power, irrigation, whatever. I guess you’re worried about the fish or something? They have to rebuild the power house (or abandon it) but the actual dam and flood gates are fine save for basic repairs.
@toppedoff. Because it wasn't safe anymore because of the ground being so unstable. Rather than the possibility of it falling into the river like their house did.
@@toppedoff The ground is still eroding, and if they had waited, the whole building could have fallen into the river like the house did. Even if it didn’t, it could have become so unstable that any attempt to move it would have caused a collapse. As sad as it is, they probably did the right thing.
What makes you say that? Nothing has changed, except they now have direct access to strong bedrock that won’t erode (since everything else is essentially gone.) They could fill that gap in no time. Remove the debris to get flow capacity back through the dam, build a temp coffer dam, fill the gap with concrete, and poof.
Basically every dam built after about 1940 or so has emergency relief valves and/or an emergency spillover...but even that isn't a guarantee, such as in Oroville where the entire cliff and entire dam had to be reconstructed and repacked even though the spillover WAS functioning (largely) as intended.
Nice that His Highness found the time to make a photo-op visit.... And does every station now need two newsreaders for 20 second lead-ins? Should there be two weather readers too?
You cannot divert a running river 90* without creating a forever issue. 🤨
This is not a flood control dam. There was never any danger of flooding due to failure. This is a dam that NSP (now Xcel Energy) built 110 years ago solely to generate power. They gave up on it in 1965 after the floods damaged it. The county then purchased it. The dam had a life expectancy of 100 years. The dam halted power production from 1965 to 1984. It ceased producing power again in 2019, after flood damage. At its peak, the dam produced only 23 megawatt hours of electricity per year. This amounts to $3000 per day, before maintenance, transmission, and labor costs. In other words, NSP knew what they were doing and the only reason for the dam's existence was the greenwashing of 'clean' energy (pre-2019), and the prohibitive costs involved with removing not only the dam structure, but the removal of an estimated 11 million cubic yards of contaminated sediment build up ($85 million in 2019 study commissioned by Blue Earth County). With the current situation as it stands, there is no reason to rebuild the dam. The environmental damage (very quiet?) has been done. 'News' crews are worried about a destroyed building that was moved into its location to sell products to the construction workers 110 years ago rather than focusing on the deposition of the sediment downstream. What does it look and smell like? Did the Governor look downstream and order the Commissioner of the State (or Federal) EPA to evaluate? Nope. Just worried about the store, it seems.
Here is a bit of history for those interested in real news:
The dam and powerhouse were completed by early 1911, and their electricity from the dam’s two 750 kilowatt General Electric generators flowed into Mankato on March 11, 1911 - one year after construction began. The output of the turbines at the dam more than doubled Mankato’s steam-powered plant capacity. However, there was no big celebration, no ceremonial switch-throwing when the power first made its way along the line to the substation on Elm Street.
At this time, electricity was only used for lighting and not in every home. So, the power company was soon stringing lines to sell the power from Rapidan Dam throughout the area. In 1912 lines were strung to Lake Crystal and Kasota, followed by twelve additional communities by 1915.
The dam gradually became obsolete. The huge growth in the use of electricity after World War I and the coming of rural electrification in the 1930s, soon outstripped the 1,500 kilowatts of capacity at Rapidan. When the Wilmarth generating plant opened on the north edge of Mankato in 1948 it had a capacity of 25,000 kilowatts (which is tiny in comparison to today’s electrical plants and grids).
The hydroelectric plant at Rapidan delivered power to Mankato until the spring flood of 1965, when ice hit the dam with full force and a phenomenal peak discharge of 43,100 cubic feet of water per second (compared to 2024 peak of 36,500 cubic feet per second). The dam was damaged, and the powerhouse was flooded making the hydroelectric plant inoperable.
In 1980, after the Windfall Tax Act and the Public Utilities Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 were passed, the hydroelectric market was revived, and Rapidan Dam was one of the first hydroelectric facilities to be renovated with public and private sector cooperation. The dam once again began producing hydroelectric power in 1984.
In 2002, extensive undermining of the dam’s foundation was discovered, and emergency repairs were required to prevent a dam failure. Additional apron, foundation, and abutment repairs have been conducted since 2002.
The Dam Store has become a staple in Blue Earth County. But did you know that this little store and café dates back to 1910?
The building, which originally stood in the village of Rapidan Mills, was moved to its current location and opened as a store in 1910 by George Nelson (1910-1937). Nelson catered to the men who worked on the construction of the dam, and he picked up business from those who traveled to the Blue Earth River to fish from its waters.
The decision to permanently seal off two of the seven gates was absolutely idiotic. Where's the study / report that authorized that, who signed off on it, etc? Time to do some investigative journalism Kare11!
What am I missing, why not demo the dam and allow what to flow straight???
In the end, this is likely what will have to be done, I think, tho I admit I am no expert. The water flowing around the dam is creating an eddy whirlpool, as can be plainly seen in the video. As the rushing water swirls around, it will continue to erode the cliff it's already formed where the floodwaters beached the dam. Without removing the dam, which is impeding the river's most natural flow, that erosion will continue indefinitely. And, the dam having been breached so badly, it can no longer serve the purpose it was built to serve.
You think they built the dam by accident? Like people just got bored? It served a purpose, ya know. 🤦♂️
@@EstorilEm clearly the dam is nothing more than an obstruction at this point..... because of an accident.
So, it's useless and harmful at this point. 🤦♀️
@@nickcourtright9914 how is it harmful? The water flow above and below the dam is identical - best case, it’s simply an extra chunk of concrete 🤦♂️
It served a purpose originally (again, they didn’t get bored and decide to build a random dam) and it needs to serve a purpose today. Flood control, power, irrigation, whatever. I guess you’re worried about the fish or something?
They have to rebuild the power house (or abandon it) but the actual dam and flood gates are fine save for basic repairs.
The water is going around the dam at this point. Boooo the dam.
A lot of words, a lot of lip service from politicians and nothing changes
why did they destroy the store?
@toppedoff. Because it wasn't safe anymore because of the ground being so unstable. Rather than the possibility of it falling into the river like their house did.
@@lindaadelwerth8042 i think they were premature.. the ground where the store is .. seems to be holding
@@toppedoff The ground is still eroding, and if they had waited, the whole building could have fallen into the river like the house did. Even if it didn’t, it could have become so unstable that any attempt to move it would have caused a collapse. As sad as it is, they probably did the right thing.
What is he talking about? Making good decisions? Stabilizing the situation? None of that happened here....
The only real fix is going to require the dam to be removed. 🤔
What makes you say that? Nothing has changed, except they now have direct access to strong bedrock that won’t erode (since everything else is essentially gone.) They could fill that gap in no time.
Remove the debris to get flow capacity back through the dam, build a temp coffer dam, fill the gap with concrete, and poof.
@@EstorilEm Not sure if I would have closed with "and poof" but yeah that would be the plan of action.
@@Zensiji Ok, minus the poof then? 😂
If the spillways on any dam are are not cleared of debris the dam will overtop. Every dam should also have an emergency spillway.
Basically every dam built after about 1940 or so has emergency relief valves and/or an emergency spillover...but even that isn't a guarantee, such as in Oroville where the entire cliff and entire dam had to be reconstructed and repacked even though the spillover WAS functioning (largely) as intended.
Never build on a flood plane
Well one thing we do know for certain is Walz will only somehow make this worse. What a S show.
why is no one doing anything?
Doing what exactly?
@@unoriginalname4321 removing the debris.. and filling in the river bed
Nice that His Highness found the time to make a photo-op visit....
And does every station now need two newsreaders for 20 second lead-ins?
Should there be two weather readers too?
It's hard not to be negative about the Governor. He's a socialist self promoter.
What a pr***... Perhaps you should take your negativity down the road, so your diaper stops chafing you, buddy.
0:52 Is there bank slippage/erosion happening upstream of the bridge by that green roofed building?
few more heavy rains and that will be in the river as well.
🤔
King Walz decided to visit the peasants in the rural south . Among the Rock and Cows and National Guard Cooks. Nice job Timmy
This Governor should resign because he didn"t take measurements in time.
Best double talker,
Hypocrite!
Is Walz the Floyd era head of Minnesota?