20 Most Dangerous Places in The Midwest...

On July 12, 2013, a six-year-old boy named Nathan Woessner was walking near the top of a sand dune on the shore of Lake Michigan when the ground beneath him simply opened. He disappeared into a vertical hole barely a foot wide. Rescuers dug for more than three hours before pulling him out from beneath 11 feet of sand, alive. Geologists were baffled. Dunes don't do this. The leading explanation involves decayed tree trunks buried inside the migrating dune creating hidden voids that collapse without warning. More holes have opened since. The dune remains partially closed. Scattered across the rivers of Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, and Ohio are thousands of low concrete structures called low-head dams. Water management agencies have a specific nickname for them: drowning machines. A low-head dam creates a smooth, calm-looking sheet of water over its crest that conceals a violent reverse current underneath — one that traps swimmers, boats, and rescuers in a cycle they cannot escape. More than a thousand people have drowned at low-head dams nationally. Most of these structures have no warning signs. Most states don't require them to. These are the 20 most dangerous places in the Midwest. We count down to Number 1. The Midwest doesn't look dangerous. That's the whole problem. And Number 1 isn't above the ground, where the tornadoes and the floods get all the attention. It's below it. We are Unreal Earth. Subscribe for more geography that actually surprises you. #Midwest #Geography #Tornado