List of Major Dam Failures
| Dam/incident | Year | Location | Nb deaths | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marib Dam | 575 | Sheba, Yemen | Unknown (possibly neglect) | |
| Pantano de Puentes | 1802 | Lorca, Spain | 608 | 1800 houses and 40000 trees destroyed |
| Dale Dike Reservoir | 1864 | South Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom | Defective construction, small leak in wall grew until dam failed. | |
| South Fork Dam | 1889 | Johnstown, Pennsylvania, United States | Blamed locally on poor maintenance by owners; court deemed it an "Act of God". Followed exceptionally heavy rainfall. Caused Johnstown flood. | |
| Walnut Grove Dam | 1890 | Wickenburg, Arizona Territory, United States | Heavy snow and rain following public calls by the dam's chief engineer to strengthen the earthen structure. | |
| McDonald Dam | 1900 | Texas, United States | Extreme current caused failure. | |
| Hauser Dam | 1908 | Helena, Montana, United States | Heavy flooding coupled with poor foundation quality | |
| Austin Dam | 1911 | Austin, Pennsylvania, United States | Poor design, use of dynamite to remedy structural problems. | |
| Desná Dam | 1916 | Desná, Austria-Hungary (now Czech Republic) | 62 | Construction flaws caused the dam failure |
| Lake Toxaway Dam | 1916 | Transylvania County, North Carolina | 0 | Heavy rains caused the dam to give way. Dam was later rebuilt in the 1960s |
| Sweetwater Dam | 1916 | San Diego County, California | Over-topped from flooding | |
| Lower Otay Dam | 1916 | San Diego County, California | 40 | Over-topped from flooding |
| Gleno Dam | 1923 | Province of Bergamo, Italy | 356 | Poor construction and design |
| Llyn Eigiau dam and the outflow also destroyed Coedty reservoir dam. | 1925 | Dolgarrog, North Wales, UK | 10<16 | Contractor blamed cost-cutting in construction but 25" of rain had fallen in preceding 5 days. This was the last dam failure to cause death in the UK to date (2010). |
| St. Francis Dam | 1928 | Valencia, California, Los Angeles County, United States | 600 | Geological instability of canyon wall that could not have been detected with available technology of the time, combined with human error that assessed developing cracks as "normal" for a dam of that type. |
| Nanty Gro Reservoir in Wales | 1942 | Nanty Gro Valley, Wales | Destroyed during preparation for Operation Chastise in World War II. | |
| Eder, Möhne Dams | 1943 | Eder Valley, Ruhr, Germany | 47<100 | Destroyed by bombing during Operation Chastise in World War II. |
| Vega de Tera | 1959 | Ribadelago, Spain | 144 deaths | |
| Malpasset | 1959 | Côte d'Azur, France | 400 | Geological fault possibly enhanced by explosives work during construction; initial geo-study was not thorough. |
| Baldwin Hills Reservoir | 1963 | Los Angeles, California, United States | 3 | Subsidence caused by over-exploitation of local oil field |
| Spaulding Pond Dam (Mohegan Park) | 1963 | Norwich, Connecticut, United States | 6 | more than $6 million estimated damages |
| Vajont Dam | 1963 | Italy | Strictly not a dam failure, since the dam structure did not collapse and is still standing. Filling the reservoir caused geological failure in valley wall, leading to 110 km/h landslide into the lake; water escaped in a seiche over the top of dam. Valley had been incorrectly assessed stable. | |
| Mina Plakalnitsa, (Vratsa) | 1966 | Vratsa, Bulgaria | 500? | A tailings dam at Plakalnitsa copper mine near the city of Vratsa failed. A total 450,000 cu m of mud and water inundated Vratsa and the nearby village of Zgorigrad, which suffered widespread damage. The official death toll is 107, but the unofficial estimate is around 500 killed. |
| Buffalo Creek Flood | 1972 | West Virginia, United States | 125 | Unstable loose constructed dam created by local coal mining company, collapsed in heavy rain |
| Canyon Lake Dam | 1972 | South Dakota, United States | Flooding, dam outlets flooded with debris. | |
| Banqiao and Shimantan Dams | 1975 | China | 100,000 or more | Extreme rainfall beyond the planned design capability of the dam. Worst dam failure. |
| Teton Dam | 1976 | Idaho, United States | 11 | Water leakage through earthen wall, leading to dam failure. |
| Laurel Run Dam | 1977 | Johnstown, Pennsylvania, United States | Heavy rainfall and flooding that over-topped the dam. | |
| Kelly Barnes Dam | 1977 | Georgia, United States | 39 | Unknown, possibly design error as dam was raised several times by owners to improve power generation. |
| Machchu-2 Dam | 1979 | Morbi, Gujarat, India | 1,800<15,000 | Heavy rain and flooding beyond spillway capacity. |
| Wadi Qattara Dam | 1979 | Benghazi, Libya | Flooding beyond discharge and storage capacity damaged the main dam and destroyed the secondary dam in the scheme. | |
| Lawn Lake Dam | 1982 | Rocky Mountain National Park, United States | 3 | Outlet pipe erosion; dam under-maintained due to location |
| Tous Dam | 1982 | Valencia, Spain | ||
| Val di Stava Dam collapse | 1985 | Italy | Poor maintenance and low margin for error in design; outlet pipes failed leading to pressure on dam. | |
| Upriver Dam | 1986 | Washington state, United States | Lightning struck power system, turbines shut down. Water rose behind dam while trying to restart. Backup power systems failed, could not raise spillway gates in time. Dam overtopped(rebuilt). | |
| Peruća Dam detonation | 1993 | Croatia | Not strictly a dam failure as there was a detonation of pre-positioned explosives by retreating Serb Forces. | |
| Saguenay Flood | 1996 | Quebec, Canada | Problems started after two weeks of constant rain, which severely engorged soils, rivers and reservoirs. Post-flood enquiries discovered that the network of dikes and dams protecting the city was poorly maintained. | |
| Meadow Pond Dam | 1996 | New Hampshire, United States | Design and construction deficiencies resulted in failure in heavy icing conditions | |
| Opuha Dam | 1997 | New Zealand | Heavy rain during construction caused failure, dam was later completed | |
| Aznalcollar Mine Tailings Dam / The Doñana disaster | 25 April 1998 | Spain | Over-steepened dam failed by sliding on weak clay foundation, releasing 4–5 million cubic metres of acidic mine tailings into the River Agrio, a tributary of the River Guadiamar, which is the main water source for the Doñana National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. | |
| Vodní nádrž Soběnov | 2002 | Soběnov, Czech Republic | Extreme rainfall during the 2002 European floods | |
| Zeyzoun Dam | 2002 | Zeyzoun, Syria | Failed 4 June 2002, killing 22 and affecting 10,000. | |
| Ringdijk Groot-Mijdrecht | 2003 | Wilnis, Netherlands | Peat dam became lighter than water during droughts and floated away | |
| Hope Mills Dam | 2003 | North Carolina, United States | Heavy rains caused earthen dam and bank to wash away | |
| Big Bay Dam | 2004 | Mississippi, United States | A small hole in the dam grew and eventually led to failure. | |
| Camará Dam | 2004 | Brasil | ||
| Shakidor Dam | 2005 | Pakistan | 70 | Sudden and extreme flooding caused by abnormally severe rain |
| Taum Sauk reservoir | 2005 | Lesterville, Missouri, United States | Computer/operator error; gauges intended to mark dam full were not respected; dam continued to fill. Minor leakages had also weakened the wall through piping. | |
| Campos Novos Dam | 2006 | Campos Novos, Brazil | Tunnel collapse | |
| Gusau Dam | 2006 | Gusau, Nigeria | Heavy flooding | |
| Ka Loko Dam | 2006 | Kauai, Hawaii | Heavy rain and flooding. Several possible specific factors to include poor maintenance, lack of inspection and illegal modifications. | |
| Lake Delton | 9 June 2008 | Lake Delton, Wisconsin | Failure due to June 2008 Midwest floods. | |
| Koshi Barrage | 2008 | Kusha, Nepal | Heavy rain | |
| Algodões Dam | 27 May 2009 | Piau, Brazil | Heavy rain | |
| Situ Gintung Dam | 2009 | Tangerang, Indonesia | Poor maintenance and heavy monsoon rain | |
| Kyzyl-Agash Dam | 2010 | Kazakhstan | Heavy rain and snowmelt | |
| Hope Mills Dam | 2010 | North Carolina, United States | Sinkhole caused dam failure | |
| Delhi Dam | July 24, 2010 | Iowa, United States | Heavy rain, flooding. | |
| Niedow Dam | August 7, 2010 | Lower Silesian Voivodeship, Poland | Heavy rain, over-topped from flooding | |
| Ajka alumina plant accident | October 4, 2010 | Hungary | 10 | Failure of concrete impound wall on alumina plant tailings dam. |
| Kenmare Resources tailings dam | October 8, 2010 | Mozambique | Failure of tailings dam at titanium mine. | |
| Fujinuma Dam | March 11, 2011 | Japan | Failed after 2011 Tōhoku earthquake. | |
| Dam in Campos de Goytacazes, Brazil | January 4, 2012 | Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil | Failed after a period of flooding. | |
| Ivanovo Dam | February 6, 2012 | Biser, Bulgaria | 8 | Failed after a period of heavy snowmelt. A crack in the dam went un-repaired for years. Eight people killed and several communities flooded. |
| Köprü Dam | February 24, 2012 | Adana Province, Turkey | 10 | A gate in the diversion tunnel broke after a period of heavy rain during the reservoir's first filing. The accident killed ten workers. |
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