There was an explosion today at Hoover Dam. If anyone has any info on this let me know. The cause is unknown as of now. Tours of the dam were paused for about 30 minutes at the time of the fire and have since resumed, 8NewsNow reported.
Built between 1931 and 1936 during the Great Depression, the Hoover Dam was constructed to provide irrigation water and hydroelectric power and control the Colorado River's seasonal flooding.
The landmark is one of the nation's largest hydroelectric facilities, generating on average about four billion kilowatt-hours of hydroelectric power each year.
The generated electricity is enough to serve more than 1.3million people across Nevada, Arizona and California.
There are 17 main turbines in the dam, with nine on the Arizona wing and eight in the Nevada wing.
The structure was named Hoover Dam in honor of then-President Herbert Hoover, who led negotiations for the 1922 Colorado River Compact that apportioned the river’s waters between the upper and lower basins.
The concrete-arch gravity dam captures water from the Colorado River and fills Lake Mead.