Photo Credit: Army Corp of Engineers
(Los Angeles, CA) -- The 60-year-old Whittier Narrows Dam is structurally unsafe. The Army Corps of Engineers also says it poses a possibly catastrophic risk to people living in the San Gabriel Valley floodplain.
A spokesman says repair work on the dam is not likely to start for another four years, so they're ramping up emergency plans in case they're needed. The Corps report says unusually heavy rains could trigger a premature opening of the dam's massive spillway. If that happens, the report says flooding could stretch from Pico Rivera to Long Beach.