Dam Failure Floods

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Dam Failure Floods
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The Huang He Chinas Sorrow

• 1887 2,000,000 dead
• 1931 3,700,000 dead
• 1938 The Chinese dynamite levees to slow the
  Japanese half a million Chinese died.

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Relief of Eastern China
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Loess in China
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Huang He and Mississippi
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Japanese Plan, 1938
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Flood Fatalities, 1938
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Affected Population
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Johnstown, Pennsylvania

• May 31, 1889
• Heavy Rain, Dam Failure. 2200 killed
• March 17, 1936
• Heavy rain snow melt. 25 fatalities
• July 19-20, 1977
• 11.8 inches rain, multiple dam failures. 85
  killed

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The Johnstown Flood
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Flood Aftermath
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Flood Aftermath
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Flood Aftermath
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St. Francis Dam, California

• March 12, 1928, 1157 PM
• Reservoir drained in one hour
• Water 140 feet deep
• 500 killed
• 50 mile flood

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St. Francis Dam, California
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St. Francis Dam, California

• Built to supply water and power to Los Angeles
• Hydraulic lifting
• Solution of gypsum in bedrock
• Presence of fault and leakage through fault gouge
• Reactivation of paleo-landslide

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Teton Dam, Idaho

• June 5, 1976
• 14 killed
• Generally sound engineering practices
• Cause of failure
• Dam fill inadequately compacted, too dry
• Fractured bedrock abutments
• Excessive reliance on grout barrier
• Piping erosion of tunnels by leaking water

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Teton Dam, Idaho(University of Notre Dame,
Department of Engineering and Geological Sciences)
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Teton Dam, Idaho(University of Notre Dame,
Department of Engineering and Geological Sciences)
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Teton Dam, Idaho(University of Notre Dame,
Department of Engineering and Geological Sciences)
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Teton Dam, Idaho The Moment of Failure
(University of Notre Dame, Department of
Engineering and Geological Sciences)
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Teton Dam, Idaho(University of Notre Dame,
Department of Engineering and Geological Sciences)
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Teton Dam, Idaho(University of Notre Dame,
Department of Engineering and Geological Sciences)
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Teton Dam, Idaho(University of Notre Dame,
Department of Engineering and Geological Sciences)
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Teton Dam, Idaho(Bureau of Reclamation)
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Teton Dam, Idaho(University of Notre Dame,
Department of Engineering and Geological Sciences)
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Teton Dam, Idaho in 2001(A. G. Sylvester)
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Teton Dam, Idaho in 2001(A. G. Sylvester)
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Tangiwai Rail Disaster, 1953

• North Island, New Zealand, Dec. 24, 1953
• Crater of Mount Ruapehu collapsed, releasing
  flood
• Mudflow takes out support of rail bridge at
  Tangiwai
• Bridge collapses as train crosses it
• 151 killed, 134 survivors

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Jokulhlaups

• Glacial Floods
• Subglacial volcanism (Iceland)
• Subglacial outbursts
• Mont Blanc, July 12, 1898, 200 killed
• Ice dam failure
• Missoula floods (Pleistocene)
• Altai floods (Pleistocene)
• Russell Fiord, Alaska, 1986

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Russell Fiord, Alaska, 2002(National Park
Service)
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Patagonia, 2004(ESA)
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Predicting Flood Fatalities

• Wayne J. Graham, 1999
• A Procedure for Estimating Loss of Life Caused by
  Dam Failure
• DSO-99-06
• U.S. Department of Interior, Bureau of
  Reclamation, Dam Safety Office

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Fatal Dam Failures 1960-1998

• 23 Events
• Piping 6
• Overtopping 9
• Slope Failure 2
• Spillway Failure 2
• Other 4

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Fatality Factors

• Flood Severity
• Warning Time
• Understanding of risk based on events upstream

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Flood Severity

• High Area swept clean
• Medium Homes destroyed but trees and wreckage
  provide refuge, flooding depth greater than 10
  feet
• Low Buildings survive, flooding depth less than
  10 feet

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High Severity

• 30-100 fatality rate
• 75 used in risk planning
• If there is warning, percents apply to people who
  remain in risk zone

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Medium Severity

• No warning
• Fatality rate 3 35
• 15 used in risk planning
• 15 60 minutes warning
• Fatality rate 1 8
• 4 used in risk planning
• More than 60 minutes warning
• Fatality rate 0.5 6
• 1 used in risk planning

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Low Severity

• No warning
• Fatality rate 0 2
• 1 used in risk planning
• 15 60 minutes warning
• Fatality rate 0 1.5
• 0.7 used in risk planning
• More than 60 minutes warning
• Fatality rate 0 .06
• .03 used in risk planning