What Happens When a Dam Fails…………
AGENDA 21 RADIO
BY PAUL PRESTON
People ask me all the time “What will it be like if the Oroville Dam was to break? Most people who have never seen the ravages of a dam failure do not have a clue as to the utter and complete destructive powers the kinetic forces of water contains in a dam failure. The breaking of a dam does not display the magnificant forces we’ve seen from the major floods of the past (1996-1997) where fast water was levy top to levy top along the rivers loaded with trees, houses, cars and everything else the water would pick up along the way. Water from a dam failure does not rise in a controlled fashion it rages at high speed. It takes everything in it’s path down in a large wave that to some never seems to end.
My first experience with the after effects of a dam failure was in December 25, 1963 following the December 14, 1963 Baldwin Hills dam disaster. We had relatives in the Santa Monica area and we had committed as a family to have Christmas at their house. We were forced to detour along the streets of Baldwin Hills that had been destroyed when the dam failed.
“The Baldwin Hills Dam disaster occurred on December 14, 1963, when the dam containing the Baldwin Hills Reservoir suffered a catastrophic failure and flooded the residential neighborhoods surrounding it. It began with signs of lining failure, followed by increasingly serious leakage through the dam at its east abutment. After three hours the dam breached, with a total release of 250 million US gallons (950,000 m3), resulting in five deaths and the destruction of 277 homes. Vigorous rescue efforts averted a greater loss of life.”
As a young teen I was in awe of the destruction. The scale and complete destruction of everything in the path of the water flow was absolute. Buildings reduced to their foundations, cars in trees, house roofs in the middle of the street, the putrid smell of waste and decomposition stays with me today.
The design and construction of the dam had been inspected and approved by the California Department of Water Resources. A meticulously documented study published by that agency in 1964—while pointing out various connections between oilfield operations in the Inglewood Oil Field and ground disturbances in the area, including beneath the reservoir and at some distance from the reservoir—concluded rather vaguely that the failure was due to “an unfortunate combination of physical factors”.
Bento Rodrigues dam disaster
The Bento Rodrigues dam disaster occurred on 5 November 2015, when an iron ore tailings dam in Bento Rodrigues, a subdistrict of Mariana, Brazil, suffered a catastrophic failure,[4] causing flooding and at least 17 deaths.[3] At least 16 people have been injured.[1]
About 60 million cubic meters of iron waste flowed into the Doce River. Toxic brown mudflows reached the Atlantic Ocean 17 days later.[5] The total impact and environmental consequences to the river and the beaches near its mouth, or to the wildlife are still unclear.[6] This incident has been described as the worst environmental disaster in Brazil’s history.[7][8][9]
The dam is a property of Samarco, a joint venture between Vale and BHP Billiton. Initially it was speculated that the causes for the collapse would be some weaknesses in the dam’s structure that were described in a report of 2013 from the Brazilian authorities. BHP Billiton denies this version,[10] and the causes of the incident are still being investigated.[11]
Teton Dam Disaster
| 288,250 acre feet |
Oroville Dam Capacity
| Total capacity | 3,537,577 acre·ft (4.363537 km3)[4] |
|---|
