Great Sheffield Flood - Aftermath

Aftermath

The day after the flood Sheffield was quickly supplying aid where ever needed. The mayor ordered a meeting “For the purpose of considering and adopting such measures as may be deemed necessary to meet sufferings occasioned by this dreadful calamity”. Raising over £4000. On 18 March 1864 the Mayor called another meeting but this time it was for anyone who could afford it to give up one days wage to give to those in need. A relief committee was made and in total raised over £42,000. The company denied any problems relating to their structure and design of the dam, and believed that the cause of the crack and inevitably the collapse involved landslipping. They noted that even with the cracks the collapse of the whole dam was unforeseeable. The corporation had found two men who either were or becoming president and then found five other engineers, all of whom had already been or about to become presidents of the Civils. They thought that on the foundation of landslipping, they would pardon the Sheffield Waterworks Company from any carelessness and that the collapse of the Dale Dyke Dam was an unpredictable accident. They continued:

We are moreover of the opinion that all the arrangements made by your engineers were such as might have been reasonably expected to have proved sufficient for the purposes for which they were intended and that, if the ground beneath the bank had not moved, this work would have been as safe and as perfect as the other five or six large reservoirs of the company which have so long supplied the town of Sheffield and the rivers Rivelin, Loxley and Don with water.

As for the physical damage in Sheffield and all the nearby areas hit in this short space of time, 238 people were killed and some 700 animals were drowned; 130 buildings were destroyed and 500 partially damaged; 15 bridges were swept away and six others badly damaged. Many records a show different amount of damage and it’s not defined how many people actually perished in the flood.

The claims for damages formed one of the largest insurance claims of the Victorian period. Armageddon Online ranks this as the 20th most deadly flood in history, worldwide.