What Would 50 Inches of Rain Mean for Twin Falls?

What would 50 inches of rain do for Twin Falls (not that we’ll ever see it in this climate)?

The question is being posed by the Washington Post.  A graphic allows you to type in your zip code and get an idea how deep the water would be in the streets.  I ran some towns and cities through it yesterday.  While I think it takes into account elevation above sea level, I’m not sure it’s designed to factor in other geographic features.

After all, Twin Falls has a large and deep drainage ditch on the northern edge of the city.

My hometown rests in a valley in the Allegheny Foothills.  The graphic shows no serious flooding from 50 inches of rain.  The infographic designer probably doesn’t know two miles away is a lake with an earthen dam and it’s high above the valley.  Heavy rain = pressure on dam = catastrophic failure = downtown submerged.  Check out the Post link and you can find the widget where you can enter your own zip code and get some sort of idea what it would be like at home.