Wet Desert: Tracking Down a Terrorist on the Colorado River by Gary Hansen Page B
Book: Wet Desert: Tracking Down a Terrorist on the Colorado River by Gary Hansen
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Authors: Gary Hansen
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considered it an equipment-related explosion, but, if it were intentionally caused, then why? "You said there was a hole in the dam, Brian. How big?"
Brian hesitated. "It looked pretty small when I first saw it, but now it's way bigger. It keeps growing. The water is really shooting out the hole."
Grant pictured water pouring over the top of the dam in a small cut, but Brian's description didn't make sense. "Where exactly is the hole?"
"It's in the west elevator shaft."
That wasn't what Grant meant by the question. "How far down?"
"About a third of the way, maybe two hundred feet."
The answer felt like a gut punch. Grant leaned back in the seat and rested his head against the cushion. Was it possible he misheard? "Sorry Brian, could you repeat that?"
"Two hundred, or maybe even two fifty."
Grant bent forward and put his head in his hands. This was much worse than he had imagined. The pressure that deep in the dam would--
Brian's voice rang in his ear. "Hello. Are you there?"
He rubbed his forehead. "Yeah Brian, I'm here." Grant hesitated at the next question, not too sure he wanted to know the answer. "You said the hole is much larger now, you said shooting out. Approximately how big is it?"
"You mean how big is the hole ? I'd say let's see . . . maybe twenty-five or thirty-five feet."
Grant tried to picture the leak; he'd never seen a column of water that large. Actually, a thirty-foot column of water, no one on earth had, for that matter. How could there not be any casualties? "Did everyone get out of the plant?" he asked.
Brian's voice became low, almost a whisper. "I don't know , I couldn't contact them on the radio. I can only hope."
Grant pictured what amounted to tons of water falling another four hundred feet down onto the generation plants below. "Has the water destroyed the plant yet?"
Brian seemed to choose his words. "At first, the water shot out the hole so far that it cleared the plant completely. It didn't even touch it. By now, some of the water must be hitting the plant, but I can't really tell , there's too much mist down there."
Grant tried to picture the whole canyon filled with mist. "Are you alone?"
"I was alone in the visitor center, but there's a couple of my men at the upper access roads. Anyway, the cops showed up about a half hour ago."
Grant pictured a dozen police cars parked haphazardly. "What are they doing?"
"Mostly keeping people away, you know. But some of them are just looking themselves."
He imagined the spectacle and how temping it would be to just stand and stare. Grant wondered if he would be able to not stare after he arrived.
"Hey, I need to go." The security guard sounded anxious to get off the phone.
"Okay, Brian. I'll be there as soon as I can." Grant replaced the phone in the compartment.
Wendy was staring at him with wide eyes. "Is it bad?" she asked.
Grant sighed. "Oh yeah."
"The dam?"
Grant nodded. "Yeah. Looks like somebody blew it up. It's breaking apart."
Her eyes grew even bigger. "Will people die?"
Grant considered the question. How could people not die if the dam failed completely? "Luckily, the area downstream of the dam was the
Grand Canyon
, for three hundred miles. Not a lot of people. If someone could just warn them." He hesitated, then looked down. "I'm sure some people will get hurt."
Wendy just stared, then her demeanor changed as she remembered something. She offered Grant about twenty pages of paper. "This just came in on the fax machine. It's from Julia."
Grant took the pages and flipped them around. The title page read, "DAM FAILURE INUNDATION REPORT, Glen Canyon Dam,
Arizona
." He scanned the table of contents, then looked up.
"Wendy, how soon will we be there?"
"We should land in Page in about fifteen or twenty minutes."
Not enough time to read the entire document. He started reading. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Wendy walk toward the back of the plane. After the second sentence, Grant skipped ahead, looking for
Brian hesitated. "It looked pretty small when I first saw it, but now it's way bigger. It keeps growing. The water is really shooting out the hole."
Grant pictured water pouring over the top of the dam in a small cut, but Brian's description didn't make sense. "Where exactly is the hole?"
"It's in the west elevator shaft."
That wasn't what Grant meant by the question. "How far down?"
"About a third of the way, maybe two hundred feet."
The answer felt like a gut punch. Grant leaned back in the seat and rested his head against the cushion. Was it possible he misheard? "Sorry Brian, could you repeat that?"
"Two hundred, or maybe even two fifty."
Grant bent forward and put his head in his hands. This was much worse than he had imagined. The pressure that deep in the dam would--
Brian's voice rang in his ear. "Hello. Are you there?"
He rubbed his forehead. "Yeah Brian, I'm here." Grant hesitated at the next question, not too sure he wanted to know the answer. "You said the hole is much larger now, you said shooting out. Approximately how big is it?"
"You mean how big is the hole ? I'd say let's see . . . maybe twenty-five or thirty-five feet."
Grant tried to picture the leak; he'd never seen a column of water that large. Actually, a thirty-foot column of water, no one on earth had, for that matter. How could there not be any casualties? "Did everyone get out of the plant?" he asked.
Brian's voice became low, almost a whisper. "I don't know , I couldn't contact them on the radio. I can only hope."
Grant pictured what amounted to tons of water falling another four hundred feet down onto the generation plants below. "Has the water destroyed the plant yet?"
Brian seemed to choose his words. "At first, the water shot out the hole so far that it cleared the plant completely. It didn't even touch it. By now, some of the water must be hitting the plant, but I can't really tell , there's too much mist down there."
Grant tried to picture the whole canyon filled with mist. "Are you alone?"
"I was alone in the visitor center, but there's a couple of my men at the upper access roads. Anyway, the cops showed up about a half hour ago."
Grant pictured a dozen police cars parked haphazardly. "What are they doing?"
"Mostly keeping people away, you know. But some of them are just looking themselves."
He imagined the spectacle and how temping it would be to just stand and stare. Grant wondered if he would be able to not stare after he arrived.
"Hey, I need to go." The security guard sounded anxious to get off the phone.
"Okay, Brian. I'll be there as soon as I can." Grant replaced the phone in the compartment.
Wendy was staring at him with wide eyes. "Is it bad?" she asked.
Grant sighed. "Oh yeah."
"The dam?"
Grant nodded. "Yeah. Looks like somebody blew it up. It's breaking apart."
Her eyes grew even bigger. "Will people die?"
Grant considered the question. How could people not die if the dam failed completely? "Luckily, the area downstream of the dam was the
Grand Canyon
, for three hundred miles. Not a lot of people. If someone could just warn them." He hesitated, then looked down. "I'm sure some people will get hurt."
Wendy just stared, then her demeanor changed as she remembered something. She offered Grant about twenty pages of paper. "This just came in on the fax machine. It's from Julia."
Grant took the pages and flipped them around. The title page read, "DAM FAILURE INUNDATION REPORT, Glen Canyon Dam,
Arizona
." He scanned the table of contents, then looked up.
"Wendy, how soon will we be there?"
"We should land in Page in about fifteen or twenty minutes."
Not enough time to read the entire document. He started reading. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Wendy walk toward the back of the plane. After the second sentence, Grant skipped ahead, looking for
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