One of four dams at the west end of Tempe Town Lake burst last night, allowing about 750 million gallons of water to pour into the empty Salt River bed, and causing Tempe residents, the media, and government officials to freak out.
Check out some photos of the lake draining here.
Within minutes of the dam bursting, we got e-mails, Facebook messages, and "omg"-filled text messages alerting us to the happening.
By midnight, the broken dam was the lead story on the Web sites of nearly every news outlet in town (except for ABC 15, which was a little late to the party -- tisk, tisk).
Facebook was abuzz with broken-dam-related status updates and photos.
One former Tempe resident even used his Facebook page to offer prayers for anyone in Tempe who may have been affected by "the tragedy."
As of right now, there's been minimal damage reported, and no injuries or loss of life.
Tempe Mayor Hugh Hallman says the biggest concern -- as far as humans go -- are transients who may have been sleeping in the river bed. But, as far as we know, there have been no reports of any dead hobos floating down the Salt River.
It seems the burst dam is more of a headache for the City of Tempe than the "tragedy" some are making it out to be, but we want to know what you think: is the broken dam freak-out worthy?
Vote -- and see the results of yesterday's poll -- below.
Yesterday's poll question: Should there be a fee to hike Camelback Mountain?
- 24.6 percent say yes.
- 50.8 percent say no.
- 24.6 percent say if someone wants to hike a mountain in 115 degree heat that's their own problem.
Here is your morning poll:
