They were in a real quandary. No one, including senior officials, was willing to make a decision that would be seen as controversial and possibly deadly. The paralysis of indecision led the officials to a consensus to wait and watch.
To further complicate matters, employees who had the training and experience to open the floodgates did not want to go anywhere near the dam. Authorities could only guess at the amount of radiation in the vicinity.
At 3:57 P. M., the pressure on the dam was beginning to show. A small section in the middle of the structure caved in and fell on top of the power plant. Minutes later, the unthinkable began to happen. Shortly after 4:02 P. M., Hoover Dam began snapping and popping as cracks started appearing in the center and edges of the rim.
Telltale puffs of concrete powder indicated where the greatest amount of damage was occurring. News helicopters reporting from a distance were using their long-range lenses to focus on the fractured dam. It was evident to the flight crews and to their viewers that something unprecedented was about to happen. The biggest dam break in the history of the United States was only moments away.
Eleven minutes later, while Americans watched on television, the dam imploded, crushing the main turbines and the hydroelectric generators. The main structure ripped away from the intake towers and crashed into the Colorado River. One section after another followed. In seconds, the full fury of the overflowing lake was turned loose in a 430-foot wall of water in the narrow canyon.
Jackie and Scott were relaxing in their suite when the breaking news logo flashed on the screen. Spellbound, they watched as a news helicopter followed the gargantuan wave down Glen Canyon, capturing sights that made even desensitized viewers squirm or avert their eyes.
Electrical power was lost in Las Vegas, Phoenix, Tucson, San Diego, Los Angeles, and many other cities and towns in Nevada, Arizona, and California. Scott and Jackie noticed their room's lights flicker when the hotel's generators came on line.
Like the power problem, domestic water needs would be drastically affected in the same areas. Lack of irrigation for over a million acres of rich croplands would wipe out a wide variety of vegetables, wheat, cotton, fruits, sugar beets, alfalfa, hay, and other crops, costing local economies billions of dollars in lost revenue and thousands of lost jobs.
The unimaginable failure of the Hoover Dam would forever change the character of southern California, from the Los Angeles megalopolis down the coast to San Diego. Combined with the terrible tragedy at the port of Long Beach, southern California was going to see tough times for an extended period. State taxes and utility costs, already some of the highest in the country, were about to go through the roof.
Fourteen miles south of the destroyed Hoover Dam was the Willow Beach Harbor Marina, on the Arizona side of the Colorado River. The popular establishment was almost deserted. The nervous manager and a few die-hard fishermen were drinking beer and watching television when the dam collapsed.
Leaving the front door wide open and the cash in the register, they went racing south down Highway 93 as fast as their vehicles could go. The exodus from the entire area was like a huge catde stampede. Raw panic was being shared by thousands of people along the river as they sought to escape with their lives. Many simply could not comprehend what had just happened, but their survival instincts told them to mash the accelerator and not look back.
The normally smooth and glassy Colorado River was about to undergo a colossal change in the next twenty seconds. The news helicopter was abeam the unstoppable wall of water as it roared over Willow Beach, sweeping away the convenience store, the marine fueling facilities, the launch ramp, and all the rental boats. There was nothing left. In a split second the marina ceased to exist.
Transfixed, Scott and Jackie stared at the television screen. Scott leaned back and stared at the ceiling. "Can you imagine being down there and not knowing it was coming — this mountain of water?"
"Dont even want to think about it," Jackie said. "Its mind-numbing."
Scott darted a look at her. "At least the people downriver had a couple of hours of advance notice."
"True," she said with a sigh. "What a blessing for them."
Scott turned his attention back to the screen. "Imagine being asleep in your tent or peacefully floating down the river in your canoe and have this come down out of nowhere."
The helicopter was traveling at a fast pace to stay up with the wall of liquid death. Giving a blow-by-blow description of the carnage, the helicopter pilot was becoming emotional.
"The guy is about to lose it," Scott said.
"Cant blame him."
"This is…" Scott was speechless. God have mercy.
Absorbed by the magnitude of the man-made disaster, Jackie and Scott remained silent while they thought about the consequences. The ramifications of the terrorist attack were impossible to calculate. One thing was for certain: The terrorist network was going to pay the price.
The fast-moving ultra-powerful wall of water continued to churn straight through hurriedly abandoned campgrounds and recreational facilities, destroying everything in its path. Trees, assorted boats, trailers, camping tents, cars, coolers, fishing gear, picnic tables, deck chairs, sleeping bags, beer and soft drink cans, charcoal stoves, propane tanks, fish, and a host of other items became weapons as they tossed and turned in the maelstrom.
Soon, the water reached Lake Mohave, which was formed by Davis Dam, and then swept through Pyramid Canyon, taking out Davis Dam like a cardboard box. The raging water then pummeled Laughlin, Nevada's third-largest gaming center. Everything bordering the river was tumbled over and over in the tumultuous flood.
Next, the water destroyed bridges near Bullhead City and smashed through the evacuated town as it continued its march toward Needles, California. The community had turned into a virtual ghost town when Hoover Dam collapsed. Once again a bridge was ripped apart and swept downstream with all the other debris. South of Needles, the raging flood weakened the Interstate 40 span until the erosion caused the roadway to collapse in two sections.
Another news helicopter joined the chase when the original pilot had to depart for fuel. The new reporter was a well-known and respected journalist from the Las Vegas area. Her helicopter was soon joined in formation by two more news helicopters.
Scott went to the window and cast his gaze east-southeast where the Hoover Dam had held back Lake Mead for over half a century. Turning to Jackie, he spoke in a quiet voice. "This is like watching the events of September eleventh in slow motion… over and over until you're numb."
"I know, but I can't take my eyes away"
The helicopter reporter was reporting that Lake Havasu City was still being evacuated. Some ill-informed members of the community had been under the impression that Davis Dam would protect them.
Late evening was approaching when the millions of tons of water and debris swept through Lake Havasu, which was created by Parker Dam, and continued the sweep down the violendy raging river. With twilight fading, the huge torrent of water crushed Parker Dam, knocking out power to many more communities in Arizona and southern California.
The helicopter pilots tried using bright spodights, but it was difficult to tell what was happening in the swirling, twisting waters.
What surprised many viewers were the enormous whirlpools, some large enough to suck under a twenty-five-to-thirty-foot boat.
Jackie sank back on the couch and closed her eyes. "This disaster will take years to overcome."
Scott switched to another cable channel. "Think about the time needed to rebuild the dams and the time to refill the lakes. Wheres the water going to come from for the entire southwestern section of the country?"
"Who knows? It's beyond comprehension."
"We don't even know the half of it," he mused. "One thing we do know: We have to find Farkas and the four nukes."
They continued to watch the water invasion of Interstate 10 near Blythe, California. The powerful torrents of water finally weakened the highway to the point that chunks of concrete began falling into the raging Colorado River. Minutes later the span sagged a couple of feet and then broke into three pieces.
With the two major southwestern east-west interstates closed, commerce ceased to flow across southern California. Gridlock became the norm as thousands of trucks and other vehicles had to be rerouted north or south. Soon a detour was implemented west of Tucson to swing Interstate 10 traffic to Interstate 8 through Yuma, Arizona.
Next came the destruction of the Imperial Dam and the Laguna Dam. The television coverage of the events was excellent, both from the air and the ground. News crews, most of whom had powerful floodlights trained on the water, had been stationed in advance along the river.
Shortly after the Laguna Dam was destroyed, the flooded river wreaked havoc in Yuma before surging into Mexico. Although Interstate 8 suffered some minor damage, the highway survived the pounding waters. A few of the news helicopters flew into Mexico to follow the flood, but most stopped at the border.
Continuing south, the waters spread out far and wide as the flood surged into San Luis, Guadalupe Victoria, Estacion Coahuila, Riito, and Oviedo Mota, before reaching Mexico's Colorado River delta and finally spilling into the Golfo de California.