1920 Germantown Dam on Twin Creek near Germantown, OH

(Satellite)

Aug 2026

The outlet tubes are full, and the water is coming out under pressure.

Facebook Reel

It looks like Ohio got some of that rain that caused record flooding in Central and Southeast Indiana.

WaterData

TheDaytonMagazine
"How the Germantown Dam is made up"
This is one of five dry dams that was built after the 1913 flood to reduce flood damage 

TheDaytonMagazine

Three c1930 photos of the dam

OhioMemory, cropped
"A conservancy road goes across the top of the dam. The dam was built to temporarily store floodwater and has no gates or permanent pool. It is 1,210 feet long and 100 feet high. There are two concrete conduits through the base of the embankment at the north abutment. The conduits are sized to discharge a peak flow during an Official Plan Flood that can be handled by the flood protection levees and channels downstream. The remainder of the floodwaters are temporarily stored behind the dam and released over time. An emergency spillway is located in a low area through the left abutment north of the dam."

At first, I could not find the spillway. But the above "An emergency spillway is located in a low area through the left abutment north of the dam." allowed me to find it.

Satellite

It appears that the 31.5' depth in the above water data chart is about twice as high as the conduit. The dam is 100' high.

mcdwater_2025
"Germantown Dam is an earthen embankment that spans 1,210 feet across Twin Creek....It’s capable of storing up to 34.55 billion gallons of floodwater and managing it through two massive conduits — each 546 feet long, 9.1 feet high, and 13 feet wide — that run through the bottom of the dam."

mcdwater_2025
[I agree that the concrete needed to be repaired.]

mcdwater_2025

It is the right descending conduit that was repaired.

dayton447now
The flood control project included 55 miles of levees and channelization of parts of the river to accommodate the full output of the conduits.

More importantly than the dam being 100' high, the spillway is about 80' high. So, a water depth of 31.5' is a rather small fraction of the reservoir since the capacity increases as the water goes up because the water spreads out over more land.

1960/62 Farmersville Quad @ 24,000

Rock Island Washed-Out Culvert in Enid, OK

(Satellite, my guess based on the topo map below.)

Note, this is old news. This was not part of the Aug 2026 flooding.

Another example of the importance of making a culvert big enough to handle a rare flash flood. If the culvert is not big enough, the embankment becomes a dam that gets overtopped.

It is common to replace a wood trestle with an embankment that covers up the trestle.

Fans of Rock Island Lines posted
Enid OK,  looks to me to be a washout after a culvert went in. I don't see anyway to get those cars there without a locomotive having made the crossing? either it crumbled as it passed or the engineer and fireman had one hell of a ride? It's not uncommon for the piles to remain buried under the berm. I always chuckle at the people on top of the cars.

Paul D. French: We had a 25 foot fill with three culverts each three times the size of the one in the photo. During a huge rain storm brush clogged the culverts. When the rear end crew walked up to the head end the water on the top of the fill was ankle deep. The whole will washed away. The crew did get the train across before the track was gone. It took a couple weeks to install a bridge.

Mike Nehring: When we filled bridge like this,we would install the culverts , fill in around the culvert up to the bottom of stringer cord, let stand for maybe 6 months to a year, then come back in & pull the stringer cord out & fill the rest in with ballast. It was totally different if it was some other factor involved. But yes that bridge/culvert washed out.

Note the contour lines that parallel the track over the creek. That indicates there was an embankment here.

1856/57 Enid Quad @ 62,500

It looks like the culvert got replaced by a bridge.

Satellite

UP now owns this route.

National Rail Network Map

1928,2007 Warsaw Upper (Swinging) Bridge and 1979 160mw Truman Dam on Osage River near Warsaw, MO

Bridge: (Archived Bridge Hunter; Bridge Hunter; Historic Bridges; HAER; Satellite)

Dam: (Satellite)

East side:

Street View, Mar 2026

A side span is suspended on the west side.

Street View, Jul 2023

This shows the asymmetry of the bridge. Not only is the east (right) pier on land, that side is higher than the west side.

Street View, Oct 2022

HistoricBridges
The 600' (183m) long bridge has a main span of 510' (155m).
"This bridge is the largest surviving Joseph Dice bridge and the only one that has been preserved."

"http://articles.ky3.com/2013-01-31/warsaw_36666966 [broken]  Sounds like there was some trouble with the rehabilitation and this bridge is closed again because the new deck has already rotted." [2013 comment by jayhawk on ArchivedBridgeHunter.]

HAER MO,8-WARS,2--2
2. VIEW LOOKING EAST, 'BARREL SHOT' FROM BRIDGE DECK - Warsaw Bridge, Spanning South Grand River, Warsaw, Benton County, MO

John Albert Christeson Jr. posted two photos with the comment: "Warsaw Suspension Bridge over Truman Lake.....Warsaw Mo."

1

2

Charlotte Thornley, Mar 2026
[HistoricBridges has more information about Joe Dice.]

Truman Dam

USACE_release, Photo by Rachel Donatti, June 25, 2019

"Truman Reservoir is the largest flood control reservoir in Missouri, with a storage capacity of more than 5 million acre-feet (an acre-foot = 325,000 gal.). At normal pool (706 ft. above mean sea level) the reservoir has a surface area of about 55,600 acres – this surface area can grow to over 200,000 acres at the top of the flood control pool. During periods of flooding, Truman Reservoir, operating in conjunction with other reservoirs, helps protect the lower Osage, Missouri and Mississippi River floodplains. The Truman Power Plant has six turbine generators and a rated capacity of 160,000 kilowatts. This electrical energy is used to meet peak electrical demands when conventional power plants cannot fulfill the public’s demand for electricity. Power plant operators are on duty around the clock to control the flow of water through Truman Dam. Additionally, the power plants located at Stockton and Mark Twain lakes are remotely controlled from Truman Dam." [USACE_lake]

dvidshub, Photo by James Lowe for USACE, Public Domain
"During the late spring of 2017, Corps Water Management personnel directed water to be released from the Harry S. Truman Dam near Warsaw, Mo., for more than a week at 50,000 cubic feet per second. The photo was taken on May 9, 2017 during the rapid release of water from spring rains."
[It indicates 1 of 4 images, but I can't figure out how to access the other images.]

clui, CLUI photo
The Army Corps of Engineers built this flood control dam and reservoir on the Osage River, starting in 1964. It took 15 years to complete, mostly due to the extensive removal and relocating of people, towns, roads and bridges over the 56,000 acre reservoir area. The dam was complete in 1979, and its powerhouse used six reversible turbines to generate 160 megawatts of power and to pump water back through the dam from its afterbay. The afterbay is an arm of the similarly sized but massively redeveloped Lake of the Ozarks, also formed by a dam on the Osage River. This pump-back function was not engaged for years, due to environmental and technical problems that have impeded its use.

Street View, Jul 2023

Street View, Jul 2023

1831 Wolf Creek Grist Mill near Loudonville, OH

(Satellite)

candy call, May 2021

Astrid Oliver, Aug 2021

13:16 video @ 2:17
The Power Behind Wolf's Grist Mill

Flood Destroyed Road at Blue Woods Creek near White River in Carmel, IN

(Satellite)

Central and Southeastern Indiana have experienced a 1000-year flood.

Actually, the bridges might be OK. It was the road embankments on both sides that got wiped out. Since the median is filled in, I can't tell if the girders for this bridge were steel or concrete.

WISH-TV posted

Hazel Dell Parkway in Carmel has been completely destroyed by floodwaters from the White River. It washed away fill materials behind the bridge abutment, creating sinkholes, undermining the approach and causing the roadway to crack in half.

(Provided Photo/City of Carmel)

Kevin D. McLeaster: Correct Headline example : "The bridge over Cool Creek on Hazel Dell Parkway has failed due to the to floodwaters from the White River."

Jeff B Bowers: Kevin D. McLeaster yes. Things are bad enough without media sensationalizing to get more clicks. The bridge was destroyed. Not the entirety of Hazel Dell.

Craig E Capehart: I think the Hazel Dell bridge is over Cool Creek, not White River. 🤔

Marilyn Naden Behrman: Craig E Capehart, yes, water from the White River is filling up Cool Creek, which is then running backwards and filling up the nearby Martin Marietta quarry. The rush of this water is causing the erosion and the failure of the roadway.

Jennie Thompson: If the quarry had not filled with water the river would have overflowed the levy in Broad Ripple.

[Comments kept correcting Cool Creek as Blue Woods Creek.]

Because of the angle the creek makes with the road, Blue Woods Creek is the correct creek. That creek has a small watershed, so the bridge is probably more than adequate for the normal flow in the creek. But it was not adequate for the backflow. It looks like the equipment in the quarry is on the upper levels. I wonder how full the quarry got. (Update: it got full. See below.) Did it occur to the engineers who designed the bridge that there would be a backflow during a flood? Or did they consider the backflow, but did not realize how big the backflow could be?

Satellite

Update:

Black Indy LIVE posted:

Carmel is now facing another potentially catastrophic consequence of Indiana’s historic flooding — and this one could become a major environmental and infrastructure emergency.

City officials warned Monday that severe erosion near Hazel Dell Parkway is threatening a critical sewer line that carries roughly 90% of Carmel’s wastewater to its treatment plant. Carmel Mayor Sue Finkam said officials believe there is a very high likelihood the line could fail if erosion continues.

The danger comes after flooding along the White River caused a portion of Hazel Dell Parkway and a bridge over Blue Woods Creek to collapse.

Nearby, floodwater has reportedly filled roughly 75% of Martin Marietta’s Carmel Sand & Gravel quarry. Officials warn that if the sewer infrastructure fails, raw sewage could enter the quarry and ultimately the White River.

Carmel’s wastewater treatment plant is located near 96th Street and Hazel Dell Parkway, and city documents show its treatment capacity was expanded from 12 million to 14 million gallons per day. 

Officials have emphasized that Carmel’s drinking water is treated and that the potential sewage release is not expected to contaminate the city’s drinking-water supply.

Still, this flood has gone from submerged neighborhoods and evacuations to collapsed roads, damaged bridges and now the possibility of a major sewer failure.

IndyStar posted

Officials are not yet sure how long it will take to repair or replace a bridge in Carmel that was severely damaged in the recent historic flooding.

Full story: bit.ly/4zlQmMW

📸 Image courtesy of the City of Carmel

I hope having the equipment working at the upper layers gave them enough time to move the equipment out of the quarry.

City of Carmel, Indiana Government posted

Over the past several days, historic flooding has severely impacted our community. Since heavy rains began on Friday, Aug. 14, Carmel’s first responders and City teams have worked around the clock alongside county, state and federal agencies to keep residents safe and begin recovery.

This special edition community newsletter includes a recap of the City's press conference, all recent news releases, safety guidelines, road closures and visual coverage of the damage. You will also find community resources below to request assistance or sign up to volunteer.

🔗 Find the full newsletter at the following link: https://www.carmel.in.gov/Civi.../ViewMessage/Message/297981

Terry Purdue: If the quarry wasn't there, imagine the damages. I feel for the fellow employees of mine. That quarry has been a source of rock since the 50's. I wonder if anyone actually knows how much water the quarry has taken on.

Darron J Chadwick: Terry Purdue they say around 9billion gallons

The newscaster says this view is 75% of its 9-billion-gallon capacity.

Facebook Reel

Facebook Reel

Aug 19, 2026:

Youarecurrent posted

Two days ago, Carmel officials said a pipe that carries most of the city’s wastewater to a treatment plant had a 90 percent chance of breaching, sending its contents into the White River. Thanks to a coordinated effort involving military helicopters, giant sandbags and a lot of hard work, the likelihood of a pipe breach has dropped to 10 percent. 

MORE: https://youarecurrent.com/.../military-helicopters-help.../

Gary Gengenbach: The primary dam was 160 concrete trucks and some sycamore trees, the sand bags were the secondary reinforcement

Bridge Construction Collapse over Stillwater River at Stillwater, ME

(Satellite)

The girders are neither steel nor concrete. Thus, I used the label "bridgeRare" for these notes.

9:49 video @ 0:02

I think the span that collapsed is the closest one in this view.

Street View, May 2026

1913 Aban/Utah Railway Gordon Creek Trestle and Carbon Canal Aqueduct near Helper, UT

Trestle: (Archived Bridge Hunter; Bridge Hunter; no Historic Bridges; Satellite)

Aqueduct: (Archived Bridge Hunter; Bridge Hunter; Satellite)

<add to US-6>

Looking West:

Shannon Bushman, Aug 2021

Looking East:

Shannon Bushman, Aug 2021

Trying to catch the curve in the trestle.

Shannon Bushman, Aug 2021

HVT Dave via BridgeHunter_trestle

Greg McDuffee posted five photos with the comment:

1913 Gordon Creek Trestle 

Carbon County, Utah

A 634ft [193m] deck plate girder,134ft [41m] above the creek. 

Built by the Utah Railway for coal mining. Long abandoned. 06~20~2026

1

2

3

4

5

I think the arson fire was in 2013.

Sonny Wilson, Dec 2021

Carbon Canal Aqueduct

Carbon Canal is an irrigation canal. Once again, I'm reminded that the West has to pay a lot for water.

2014 photo by Royce and Bobette Haley via BridgeHunter_aqueduct

2014 photo by Royce and Bobette Haley via BridgeHunter_aqueduct

After the canal goes over Gordon Creek, it goes under US-6.

Satellite

1914/68 Castle Gate Quad @ 62,500