Since Kentucky Dam is located in the New Madrid Seismic Zone — which produced earthquakes of estimated magnitude 7.0 to 7.9 in 1811 — it is one of the few TVA dams built to withstand major earthquake shocks. Emergency preparedness officials in Marshall County and McCracken County, Kentucky (downstream from the dam) and a TVA spokesman discussed concerns of the public about the dam in 2005 in a local newspaper, "The Paducah Sun". The dam was regarded as well maintained. Experts suggested that any dam failure would probably occur in the earthen levees at the end of the concrete portion of the dam, and the subsequent release would start small and enlarge as water poured through it. It is not expected that a wall of water would suddenly go down the river. Instead, the water level would rise slowly over at least six hours before flooding the Calvert City chemical plants. The floodwater should reach only the base of the Paducah floodwall.