12 December 2024, @mariannewest's Freewrite Writing Prompt Day 2584: The New Dam

This post was inspired by today's 5-minute writing prompt in the Freewriters Community - 12 December 2024, @mariannewest's Freewrite Writing Prompt Day 2584: water outlet

Enjoy !

Image created by AI in NightCafe Studio

It had been raining for weeks. The ground was waterlogged everywhere, fields had an inch or two of water standing in them. In the valley above town, water ran off the slopes of the mountains into the lake.

At one end of the lake was the New Dam. It wasn't actually that new, it had been built a century before after the failure of the Old Dam.

Government corruption and lack of skilled staff meant that maintenance of the dam had become a box-ticking exercise. And now it showed.

"Open all the sluice gates," came the order over the phone.

"I'm sorry sir," answered Technician Jones, "Numbers one and three are stuck. Should have been fixed when the water was low last summer, but we were told there was no budget for it, and anyway the other seven will be enough."

"Well ? Are they enough ? I need you to get those water outlets open !"

"No, sir. We've got water just two feet from the top of the dam, and the level is rising six inches an hour. By morning, there'll be as much water going over the top as through the sluice gates."

It turned out that wasn't the case. At 3am, another maintenance problem reared it's head. The dam above sluice gate four cracked. Most of the town were awakened by the massive crash-bang when the damn failed, suddenly and catastrophically. There were very few survivors.