LAKE OF THE OZARKS -- Bagnell Dam is classified as a high hazard dam according to Missouri State Emergency Management officials. If the dam were to fail, lives would be lost and extensive property damage could result.

But Ameren said there is safety in the dam's design. 

"The dam is not one solid piece of concrete all the way across,” Bagnell Dam Engineer Alan Sullivan said. “It’s built in sections called monoliths and they are about 40 feet wide. And so it would be impossible for the entire structure to just fall over or disintegrate. So likely we might have a section crack and move and cause water to leak through."

Sullivan said it is most likely that a crack would expand slowly giving Bagnell Dam engineers time to fix the crack before any water escaped.

If water does escape, it would rush down the Osage River, eventually reaching the Missouri River about ten miles east of Jefferson City.

Ameren said that there are too many variables to calculate how high and fast the water would rise if it leaked through.

Ameren provided a computer model simulation of a major failure that showed water rising at the Osage River Bridge in Tuscumbia in about an hour and a half.

With the parameters of the computer model simulation, it would take nearly 12 hours for the water to rise at the Highway 50-63 Bridge at the Cole-Osage County line.

Emergency officials said that it won't just be water rushing down the Osage River; docks, boats, maybe even houses knocked loose by the powerful water, will join that surge as dangerous debris.

The resulting damage could also cause major disruptions to travel throughout mid-Missouri.

"Some of the models we looked at would indicate there's the potential that Highway 54 might have to be closed between Eldon and the dam.” Missouri State Emergency Management Agency official John Campbell said. “There's the potential that Highway 50-63 might have to be closed at the Cole-Osage County line as it crosses the Osage River.

Emergency officials and Sullivan said the biggest challenge they will face is notifying the public. 

There is a new tool in place: three warning sirens, all placed in the first five miles downstream from the dam. Their goal is to alert the people who would have the least amount of time to react. 

Ameren tests the sirens the first Monday of each month at noon. Other than that, they will only sound if the dam is going to fail. 

For those who live more than five miles downriver, Ameren has set up a system that will send automatic phone calls to people in an emergency situation.

Another issue for emergency officials are tourists at the lake.

"Right now our population increases just because of the vacationers that come in from out of town,” Miller County Emergency Management Director Barlow Biggers said. “And a lot of people, they're out of state.  So they're not really aware of the problems and the concerns. Where would they go to get off the Lake?

Emergency officials said people at the Lake and on the Osage River, whether you live there or are just visiting, need to have an evacuation plan in place so families know the quickest way to get to higher ground.

Bagnell Dam officials said they are not aware of any problems with the dam's structure.

Ameren said that the public is welcome to attend annual emergency drills at Bagnell Dam.

According to the Association of State Dam Safety officials, 95 percent of high hazard dams do not have an emergency action plan in place. 

Bagnell Dam does.