text: I wondered when these ignoramuses were going to get their day in court.
  If they think they got hammered by the releases which protected the integrity of the dam, imagine the sheer horror that would have been unleashed if the dam had been over-topped and washed out!  
  (Hint - had they lived through a dam breach, they'd still be in court trying to blame someone...)
  
  For those who don't know - Lake Estes and its dam are not a flood control project - they are merely a 'faucet' in part of the water delivery system known as the Colorado-Big Thompson.  Even if Lake Estes had been totally empty prior to the rains, it could not have held all the water that came down, and the amount of water flowing down the Big Thompson would still have been catastrophic.