What would happen if Hoover Dam completely gave way? What kind of disaster are we talking?

Question

What would be the effects of an explosion completely tearing away Hoover Dam? How large of an area would be flooded? How many would lose power due to power supply being cut of from this source? What would be all the effects including possible casualties if this ever happened?

Answer 1

Oh, the humanity, the humanity
The losses would be terrible, possibly in the tens of hundreds, not so many as you think.
13,000 to 16,000 people cross the bridge each day, so those deaths wouldn’t be minor, but you can’t expect to lose more than 150 cars the dam is only 1244 feet across and it has only 2 lanes.

The Grand Canyon would surely flood and it would create a huge force of massive liquid energy channeled down the river, but no one lives on the floor of the Grand Canyon. The tourists inside of the Canyon would be crushed to a find jelly, but those white rafting would have one heck of a trip all the way to Arizona.

The first city on the way down would be Bullhead City with a population of 39,101 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullhead_City%2C_Arizona)
Then the Fort Mojave Indian Reservation would get hit (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Mojave_Indian_Reservation).

But that's about 80 miles downstream. By the time the water gets there it would have lost most of its energy. In the meantime large amounts of the Mohave Desert would be flooded, destroying lots of cactus and maybe one or two off-roaders. Lake Mohave would absorb the bulk of the water before it reached Bullhead City or threatened the Indian Reservation to the south of it.

I assume the workers inside the dam would be threatened, but most of them work with the turbines in the side tunnels not under or inside of the dam itself. The new bridge over the canyon will take all the traffic off of the top of the bridge so there won’t be many people killed there until 2010 (when it is finished) though traffic is restricted.

The expense of repairing the dam would out weigh the causality list.

According to Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoover_Dam
“Hoover Dam serves as a crossing for U.S. Route 93. The two lane section or road approaching the dam is narrow, has several dangerous turns, and is subject to rock slides.
Additionally, In the wake of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks there are significant security concerns. Because of the attack the Hoover Dam Bypass project was expedited. The Hoover Dam Bypass scheduled to be completed in 2010 will divert 93 traffic 1,500 feet downstream of the dam. The bypass will include a composite steel and concrete arch bridge, tentatively named the Mike O'Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge.

Traffic across Hoover Dam is now restricted. Some types of vehicles are inspected prior to crossing the dam while Semi-trailer trucks, buses carrying luggage, and enclosed-box trucks over 40 feet are not allowed on the bridge at all. This traffic is diverted south to a Colorado River crossing near Laughlin, Nevada.”

The cost of replacing the dam would be huge the original cost was $49 million ($676 million adjusted for inflation). Today it would probably cost close to 1 billion dollars to replace it so the expense would be enormous. It produces 2,080 megawatts daily and that would take a new power plant to make up for the short fall, but from a previous question I know that it only supplies less than 10% of the power required for Las Vergas’s Strip.

Answer 2

Hoover Dam Explosion

Answer 3

it wouldn't be a wave pool, that's for sure. Water has tremendous force. I don't know how many would die, but certainly a lot of life and property loss.

Answer 4

the citys like las vagas would have no power for a week.