Avalanche hits and destroys a Dam

[Andrew Joiner]

Just happened today. Wow
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0o1AhGuwMg&feature=youtu.be (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0o1AhGuwMg&feature=youtu.be)

[Bill Dufour]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vajont_Dam

[Anuj Prateek]

It seems it was a glacier that broke in Chamoli area and later caused a flash flood. Flash floods and land slides are common occurrences in that belt. Sometimes river expands in width, and washes away houses on the shore.

We lived in that area for 5 years (upto 6 years age for me). I visited the place few times after growing up. That whole area is beautiful, raw, and relatively untouched.

My Dad is a doctor. When he was posted there, we used to go along with him on camps (medical). Many villages were reachable only by foot. Wildlife was abundant. We had a scooter (kind of like motorcycle) and was primary mode of personal travel.

I remember that once we came across 3 tigers sitting by side of road. In those mountain areas/road it was common enough that nobody got scared. We just slowed down and passed. Tigers used to come near road to drink water from streams, and we're usually not hungry :)

[Andrew Joiner]

Thanks Anuj for bringing your personal experience with the area.
Looks like maybe 2 dams got destroyed:https://twitter.com/ANI/status/1358298567287267329

[Michael Weber]

Tragic for those affected. When I first read about this a couple of days ago being caused by a glacier collapse I was reminded of the PBS story of the glacial collapse a few thousand years ago that created the Washington State Scab Lands. Glad it wasn’t an event of that size.

[Bill Dufour]

At least for the Italian one the dam did not break. The landslide just went over and around it. Not that it made any difference downstream.
Bill D