WEBVTT

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[MUSIC]

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Joan Cartan-Hansen, Host: Dams
are amazing to see, but if you

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are going to visit, you do need
to be careful.

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Be sure to obey all posted signs
and, if you're recreating, stay

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well away from the dam itself.
While dams are engineering

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marvels, every once in a while,
they do fail.

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On average, ten dams fail in the
U.S. every year.

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Most of these are very small,
causing little damage.

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But when a major dam fails, it
can be catastrophic.

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The most famous failure in Idaho
happened in 1976.

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Engineers had just built the
Teton dam when it collapsed.

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>>"People downstream better get
out."

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The residents of Wilford had
only a few minutes of warning

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before 80 million gallons of
water ripped through their

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homes.
Flood waters wiped out many

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communities
And destroyed thousands of acres

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of farm land.
In the end, the flood cost

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American taxpayers almost half a
billion dollars.

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Engineers learned a lot from the
Teton dam failure.

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They're using that new knowledge
to make today's dams safer.

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For more information about dams,
check out the science trek

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website.
You'll find it at science trek

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dot org