Emergency evacuation

I heard Hospitals in the US are opening doors to patients down there. First news was out of the USVI's. What have you heard for PR?

Also heard PR is not yet working on restoring power, but clearing to get to the point of.. Again, what have you heard?

Operators of the Guajataca Dam said the dam, located at the northern end of Lake Guajataca in northwest Puerto Rico, failed at 14:10 local time (18:10 GMT).

I think the Rio Guajataca drains the reservoir, flowing north through the valley to the sea, near the tunnel of Guajataca.   

The dam is rather old and not well maintained (isn't everything?)  Remember a road trip there a few months ago.  We walked across the dam and drove around the area.

I read one report that said dam flood gates would open automatically and could not be stoped.    This would be a real gully washer if the dam broke suddenly.  Don't know how fast the flow would be with open gates?   I recall seeing a lot of houses along this drainage.  Let's hope they get the word to evacuate!

School buses being used to evacuate the people.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-41368478

Found this on line.


According to the United States Army Corps of Engineers, Guajataca Dam is an earthen structure, 120 feet high and nearly 1,000 feet long. It was built in the mid-1920s by the Army Corps of Engineers, but is now owned by the power authority.


Still not clear if the dam actually collapsed or the flood gates opened dumping dangerous flood water?

I can't imagine how they notified the residents in houses in danger?  No power, no phones, no roads passable??

70,000 to be evacuated?  OMG!  Not sure this report is creditable?

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/ … -maria-dam

It is all over PR news.
There is a crack on the Dam that is sending water downstream at the moment. They believe it will crack open.

This dam was build around 1929 and does not have doors to release water. The water coming down is from a crack.

There is a lot of information in the FB group "Expats In Puerto Rico" and plenty of news in Spanish News stations in PR. Lots of fotos and videos including the issue with the dam.

Several other groups also in FB are carrying information, videos and photos.

Here is a video ...
Pretty scary looking like something out of a disaster movie.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BZXRS_Bg9ol/