Levee Breach - Intentional Breaches

Intentional Breaches

In some cases levees are breached intentionally. This can be done to protect other areas or to give back land to nature. In most cases an intentional breach is not without discussion since valuable land is given up. During the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 a levee was blown up with dynamite to prevent the flooding of New Orleans.

Taking land from the cycle of flooding by putting a dike around it prevents it from being raised by silt left behind after a flooding. At the same time the drained soil consolidates and peat decomposes leading to land subsidence. In this way the difference between the water level on one side and land level on the other side of the dike grew. In some areas reclaimed land is given back to nature by breaching and removing dikes to allow flooding to occur (again). This restores the natural environment in the area. This happened in the Glory River in Iraq