10 Massive Dam Failures Caught On Camera

10 Massive Dam Failures Caught On Camera

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Edenville Dam footage captured by Lynn Coleman

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[fahadch]

Mullaperiyar Dam in Idukki district in Kerala, India is in danger, if this dam built in 1895 collapses, 3.5 million people will die😞, this dam is overdue, even the UN has said about this, there is a dispute between 2 states of this dam in the Indian court (kerala, Tamilnadu) Tamilnadu government to increase the capacity of the dam and Kerala Govt to build new dam

[mglenn]

Edenville Dam: 100 years. I don’t think the problem was caused by the original builders. Seems more like it’s the fault of people thinking it was just going to last forever without adequate maintenance.

[eily_b]

I would NEVER live downstream of a dam. Never. My town suffered an embankment break of a big canal for shipping during construction that was only half full at this time. The destruction was massive and several people died. It was in the 70s and my Dad worked at the port authority for that shipping canal that was already built and was partly in use on the other side of a lock. - And it always amazes me that people try running from water away instead of uphill... And thank you for showing actual dam breaks instead of just water release from dams.

[marks]

A childhood friend talked about his grandparents living downstream from a dam in West Virginia back in the 50's, while working as a geologist at a nearby coal company. His grandma kept complaining about that dam made her nervous and eventually his granddad got another job in Pittsburgh. About a few years later, the dam collapsed due to heavy rains and failure by the coal company to maintain the spillways properly. Their house was wiped out and several neighbors died from the collapse and subsequent flooding. Turns out grandma had legitimate concerns and a family history of disaster. Grandma's family had been running a farm downstream of the Saint Francis dam in the San Francisquito valley (moved there after WWI as part of the Westward migration of Vets after the war). They had gone to another family's home for a big get together and came back to no farm, no buildings, and no workers. At least a dozen of their Mexican migrant workers died or disappeared that night after the collapse of the dam. They sold off the land to the state water commission (who was frantically trying to cover up the disaster losses). Later when a family member went back (during WWII) they found that state had never counted the dozen migrant workers that his family listed (by name and place of birth) as missing and only one dead (the only migrant from their farm found downstream and identified by her father). Estimates are that over 1, 000 people actually died that night and California undercounted the losses (mainly the migrant workers) due the outcry against Los Angeles Water Works and Supply and William Mulholland (a self-taught engineer who designed and built the dam). Most of these disasters were preventable, but due to money and politics many dams were built even though local people (and even competent engineers) thought it was a bad idea.

[paultrigger]

I am most disturbed by the person who captured a dam failing in real-time and kept his phone vertical

[cydkriletich]

I’ve seen many of the videos in this, but there has never been any info given as to where and why the disaster happened. Thank you for the info you provided along with the visuals.

[mysteriumxarxes]

im brazilian and the brumadinho dam disaster was widely covered by media. It turns out it was very negligenciated by the VALE corporation, who chose profit over security, and all warnings by specialists were dismissed. It resulted in lots of deaths and the firefighters spent months crawling in the mud to recover the missing bodies. The body recovery operation ended two years later with a handful of bodies still missing. It was a great environmental catastrophe too, doing irreparable damage to the fauna and flora where it passed through, and destroying a couple of rivers. "Fun" fact, 4 years ago a similar dam collapsed from the same corporation, doing the same environmental damage and with lots of human losses, it was the mariana dam incident. Watching the brumadinho dam collapse and its effects felt like I was rewatching the same episode

[yellowdisaster]

The footage of these dam failures is a stark reminder of the delicate balance between progress and nature. It's tragic yet fascinating to witness the consequences of these engineering marvels pushed to their limits.

[shannonjennings]

The earthen Teton dam collapse in eastern Idaho in 1976 caused alot of damage as well

[jessicabuckman]

I lived in Edenville at one time, I used to wonder what things would look like if the dam in question failed. I used to commute past that area at one time.

[deanosborn]

#10 What the narrator failed to mention is that when the Edenville dam failed, all the water from Wixom Lake went downstream to the Sanford Lake dam in Sanford and caused that one to fail as well.

[DylanSchmidt-gusx]

Nature always wins. Nature always finds a way,

[lynneedwards]

Here in England we had a very near dam failure in Whaley Bridge, Derbyshire in about 2019. The dam was on high ground and it would have been catastrophic if it failed. Water was seen leaking from the embankment and towns were on high alert. They managed to drain nearly the entire reservoir into the nearby river, which saved the day. Poor maintenance was blamed on this occasion. The dam is now safe and refilled but I imagine those living nearby will be on high alert for quite some time to come.

[metatechhd]

👍🤔💭

it's unlikely that the original builders could have foreseen the issues that caused the Edenville Dam failure. It's unfortunate that the necessary maintenance and updates were not prioritized, leading to such a devastating event. It's important to remember that infrastructure requires ongoing attention and care in order to remain functional and safe. This is especially true for dams, which can have catastrophic consequences if they fail.

[ralphralpherson]

I actually saw an ice damn give way on the Allegheny River near Pittsburgh in the 90s. I was with my friend and his uncle helping them retrieve a tow truck that had broken down earlier. We heard a weird creaking and loud booms, we looked back at the river (which is a fairly massive river, its easily 150 yards across down by the city) and saw HUGE truck sized chunks of ice playing leap frog and tumbling down river at a scary fast pace. A few barges had come loose of their moorings and slammed into a RR bridge pylon (the booms). We watched it for a while and then took off to get away from the banks just in case it got worse. The next day the news said flooding damage down in the city had occured. Nature can be scary.

[bryanelam]

I don't know about anyone else but for me watching huge pieces of grass sliding down a bank looks crazy & I can't stop watching it.

[valuedhumanoid]

I grew up on the Mississinawa reservoir/river in Indiana. My grandparents had a cottage downstream from the spillway. I believe the spillway tunnel is 40 feet in diameter and can remember some years of heavy rains the reservoir would back up all the way to Marion and they would open it up as far as they could. It used to scare the bejesus out of me. Our dock being submerged and that water rushing by. It's a powerful sight when they crack it open. The sirens, the roar of the water, the spray...especially at night.

[reenactorrob]

Hurricane Agnes in the 1970's broke dams along the entire east coast. My town lost its reservoir dam, a downstream hydroelectric dam, a 100 year old steel girder bridge, Rt. 1 Bridge and one of two spans on I-95. The railroad bridge survived. There was 10 feet of water over the hydro dam before it burst. No water or school for a week. Electricity out for days too.

Nothing like the Johnstown floods(two) from broken dams in Pennsylvania. The one in the 1880's killed 2000+.

[adriennegormley]

After the 1959 Hebgen quake in southwest Montana, there were fears that the earth fill dam at Hebgen Lake might fail, esp. With the aftershocks. So there were extensive checks on the solidity of the dam after. Since it was also hydroelectric, the examinations were supercritical. Fortunately it didn't fail, but several of the towns downstream were evacuated until the safety checks were done.

[MURFNATR]

I lived a little ways (fortunately upstream) away from Edenville and it was absolutely poir maintenance and neglect that caused it. The owner was warned so many times that it was in very poor condition and needed immediate action but he refused to do anything.