1979 Machchhu dam failure

BW

August 11, 1979: up to 2,500 dead; Partially destroyed building

The Machhu II dam is one of two dams on the river Machhu in the Indian state of Gujarat. The 26 m high building was completed in 1972 Morvi on the Saurashtra peninsula.

Machhu II had apparently shut-off as a gravity dam with a spillway in the middle and embankments on both sides. Other data of the barrage:

• Crown length: 3905 m
• Dam volume: 1,105,000 m³
• Storage capacity: 100 million m³

In August 1979 there were heavy rains and storms. In 24 hours fell 525 mm of precipitation. This produced an outflow of 13,400 m³ / s, twice as much as the spillway could dissipate. Therefore, the water rose further and further until it overflowed the dam half a meter high. The dam was flooded and washed away at both flanks of the valley dam, so that only the gravity dam stopped. The building collapsed on 11 August 1979. There were more than 2,000 deaths, possibly up to 2500th The total number of deaths caused by the storm was about 30,000. The material damage amounted to 15 million dollars.

The damage was caused by flooding due to the too small sized hydraulic systems. The design flood was later increased to 26,000 m³ s /, based on the experience of another storm that occurred in 1983.