i seem to remember reading some fiction where a dam break flooded huge amounts of the basin. and wiped out all of the army engineering work down river. many major cities and huge amounts of land were flooded.

is there any place along the river where this could be a posibility in real life? if you live downstream, do you even worry about it?

Every dam one is a target.
Of course, getting enough explosive to take out a dam to the point of total destruction would be noticeable I'd imagine. IANAE, etc.

From what I have seen, all of the Lock and Dams in the upper Midwest (WI,MN,IA) have been closed to visitors since 9/11/01.  They have the vehicle access and pedestrian access blocked.

I think it depends on what the intentions are, if it is for shock/terror I would think that a lake dam would be more devastating to the surrounding communities.  If the intention is to disrupt the infrastructure I guess attacking some of the lock/dams on the Mississippi would impair river travel.
I do live down stream but don't worry about it enough to change any of my daily activities.  I do have a 'natural disaster' emergency pack as I live close to a fault line (and am quite confident that our local authorities/agencies are not prepared for any significant earthquake...at least not to the extent as say, Kalifornia).

now that you mention it, the story may have involved an earthquake. maybe new madrid fault? i seem to remember some predictions for a monster quake to hit the region someday.  doesn't seem to get much press though.

Welcome to Hoover dam, you are welcome to take any dam pictures you want and your dam guides
will answer any of your dam questions. Remember
to visit our dam store and check out our dam collectible items and dam postcards. Should you have any problems while in the dam area, remember that we have our own dam police department and dam medical services. Have a great dam time.....impromtu fictional speech
at hoover damn

Yes, indeed! The Corps of Engineers' OLD RIVER CONTROL STRUCTURE near Marksville, Louisiana!

Around five hundred years ago, following a great earthquake along the New Madrid Fault in Missouri, the very Course of Old Man River made an abrupt alteration:

Instead of flowing down the present day Atchafalaya River (as it had for millenia), it changed its course to its present-day course.

Since then, it has attempted to find its old river bed and flow in a more-or-less direct route to the Gulf, meaning back down the Atchafalaya River.

In 1973, IIRC, due to heavy flooding in the Midwest, the Mississippi River almost succeeded in changing its course back! The Corps of Engineers were bringing in trailer after trailer of rocks and dumping them at the base of the locks on the OLD RIVER CONTROL STRUCTURE, trying desparately to keep the River at bay.

Finally, everone in the Control Room said they were kneeling in prayer, as a last result, when it appeared the structure was going to pull through.

What would happen if it hadn't?

Well, the citizens of Morgan City would have about a three hour notice to evacuate their city before a twenty to thirty foot wall of water hit their city, washing everything out into the Gulf!

Those poor Cajuns living along the shores of the Atchafalaya would never have even had any chance!

And New Orleans would now be situated on a salt-water bayou, and a very small one at that!

Eric The(IWasInSchoolInBatonRougeAtTheTime!)Hun[>]:)]

I don't live near the Mississippi so I'm not sure, but there are a lot of dam targets around here.  There's the dam space needle, a couple of dam bridges, a lot of fricken dam tall buildings, not to mention my dam wife.