Possible "large safe" found from Austin, Pa. dam break...Strange Story????

[maipenrai]

Re: Possible "large safe" found from Austin, Pa. dam break...Strange Story?

Even though the safe was supposed to be 9', I really doubt that it was a 9' cube, and 55 tons? That is a vault, not a safe! Even a 9' high safe is a bit too much, that is higher than most rooms. Maybe a safe could float for a while, until it eventually filled with water, but I dont know how water tight they actually were. Why would they need such a huge safe it a little town? A lot of confusing "facts", in this story, especially the guys in the black car.

Yeah, the safe is there, but its under the concrete slab, so we just left it. At least they werent big on keeping quiet!

 

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[diggemall]

Re: Possible "large safe" found from Austin, Pa. dam break...Strange Story?

Even though the safe was supposed to be 9', I really doubt that it was a 9' cube, and 55 tons? That is a vault, not a safe! Even a 9' high safe is a bit too much, that is higher than most rooms. Maybe a safe could float for a while, until it eventually filled with water, but I dont know how water tight they actually were. Why would they need such a huge safe it a little town? A lot of confusing "facts", in this story, especially the guys in the black car.

Yeah, the safe is there, but its under the concrete slab, so we just left it. At least they werent big on keeping quiet!

I doubt the dimensions and weights as well. My point was to extrapolate a "worst case" kind of scenario to determine just how much hydraulic force would be required to "push" something that large upwards to whatever the high water level may have been during the dam burst, and, as it turns out, it really isn't implausible at all.

Diggem'

 

[doverturtle]

Re: Possible "large safe" found from Austin, Pa. dam break...Strange Story?

Remember, no matter how large the safe, it was inside a building. If the entire building was lifted by the flood waters, the safe would be effectively travelling on a raft. Who knows how far or high it may have travelled before the building completely broke apart.

 

[big mike]

Re: Possible "large safe" found from Austin, Pa. dam break...Strange Story?

I stick to my opinion that it's impossible.But that's just me.I wasn't there so I don't know how high the water was,but it was a little lake compared to the flood of 1985 in the Mon. Valley in Pa. when Cheat Lake in Wva. which is maybe 50-100 times bigger than the Austin dam lake, got drained and quickly might I add and no safes were washed downstream that I heard of. Look at the pics. of the aftermath of the Austin flood. There's a lot of light weight junk still in town. A 9' safe? Up a hill?..on a perfectly balanced raft until it fell off? Come on...

 

[mr-dig-it]

Re: Possible "large safe" found from Austin, Pa. dam break...Strange Story?

Light weight junk?? Piles of lumber, houses, logs...locomotives... were washed down the valley from the force of water. I suggest you pick up a book on the Austin flood and read up on the distruction.

 

[jeff of pa]

Re: Possible "large safe" found from Austin, Pa. dam break...Strange Story?

this will be My Last word on this, Because I'm convinced
I'm right & Pretty Confident your convinced your right.
so I Won't argue.

But also Realize IF The safe was where I Put the Red X
& It Tumbled "Downhill" & Landed
where I Put the Yellow X, & you were Standing
in The New Gutter Created by the wash,
you would Definately need to Crawel
UPhill to get to the safe.

remember Sea level comes in to play

what was sea Level where the safe Was
& Sea Level On top of the hill where it is Believed to Be ?



Not to Mention Flood like Tordadoes can do Surprising things.
Cause one place to blow Sky High
& Leave another Untouched.
Just like a fire can Burn a Place to the Ground,
& Leave a Paper note un burned in the Middle.
No Rhyme or reason

 

[diggemall]

Re: Possible "large safe" found from Austin, Pa. dam break...Strange Story?

The weight of an object is only one part of the equation that determines how much bouyancy it has in water. There are plenty of things that float just fine despite being made of materials that are denser (heavier) than water - steel hulled ships, concrete floating bridges and barges, etc., etc. Oh well, any way you slice it - nobody's getting into whatever is below that substation any time soon.



Diggem'

 

[mr-dig-it]

Re: Possible "large safe" found from Austin, Pa. dam break...Strange Story?

Jeff, you have the directions of the flood backwards. The dam was a mile and half beyond the smokestacks in the background. The present day substation is just on this side of the smokestacks. The floodwaters came down the valley, top of photo to bottom of photo. The safe was supposed to have been found on the valley floor, not on a hillside.

 

[mr-dig-it]

Re: Possible "large safe" found from Austin, Pa. dam break...Strange Story?

I might add that the smokestacks in the background belong to the Bayless paper mill and the substation where the safe was found is within spitting distance so it wasn't washed far at all.

 

[jeff of pa]

Re: Possible "large safe" found from Austin, Pa. dam break...Strange Story?

Jeff, you have the directions of the flood backwards. The dam was a mile and half beyond the smokestacks in the background. The present day substation is just on this side of the smokestacks. The floodwaters came down the valley, top of photo to bottom of photo. The safe was supposed to have been found on the valley floor, not on a hillside.

dosn't surprise Me

I didn't Do all the research
Just used the Pic to prove my point

up hill near the bottom

isn't Necessairly higher then where the safe came from.

so a flood downhill can Send Heavy items to the top of an embankment
in My opinion.

 

[deepskyal]

Re: Possible "large safe" found from Austin, Pa. dam break...Strange Story?

Check my pics from below Austin Dam. The one pic with the chainlink fence is the substation and the other pics are taken close to it. http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,104356.0.html

The substation isn't that far up hill at all from the creek but you can see just upstream, literally, are foundations from one of the mills.

Al

 

[big mike]

Re: Possible "large safe" found from Austin, Pa. dam break...Strange Story?

Water displacement is key. I see coal barges every day. They carry 1000 tons apiece and they still sink if the double hull is breached. If the safe's on the floor of the valley, yes, totally possible.It may have floated for a while after it got washed out of the building but on a raft of flooring like someone else said? Nahhhhh! I'll never swallow that. The power of water, and it's ability to carry things downstream and tear things up is unbelievable. It also finds it's own level, so Jeff has a good point. Plus, a lot of things can change the countryside in 100 yrs. I'm going back, I'll even take elevation measurements. I'm fascinated by this since I see floods and withstand them once in a while though they're not as violent. And there's little sticks floating along with the house roofs, sheds,refrigerators, dog houses,tires, and I get railroad ties along with twigs and leaves dumped in my yard.So yes to anyone who disputes my statement of light weight junk left behind in Austin,the light stuff doesn't always disappear. I don't have to read a book to know that, I see it every winter.But I realise it was a violent thing in Austin. That I won't argue.God Bless the lost souls.

 

[njcommercialdiver]

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