Teton Dam
The Teton Dam was a dam on the Teton River in Sugar City and Rexburg, Idaho in the United States, the spectacularly failed on June 5, 1976. The dam failure caused eleven deaths and a financial loss of up to one billion U.S. dollars.
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Dam
The dam was located in Teton Canyon about 44 miles ( 71 km) northeast of the city of Idaho Falls. He was a 93 m high Erdschüttdamm, the purpose of irrigation, power generation, flood control and recreational recovery was. The dam was built by the Bureau of Reclamation ( Reclamation Office), which was later made primarily responsible for the collapse.
The dam was built in the eastern Snake River Plain volcanic soil, which is about 1.9 million years old. The subsoil is very permeable, but not at the dam seepage was before the break has been noticed.
Data
- Type: Zone dam
- Construction period: 1972-1975
- Height of the dam: 305 feet ( 93 m )
- Jam Content: 288 250 acre-feet ( 355.55 million m³)
- Crown length: 2700 feet ( 823 m)
Breach in the dike
At the time of the fault line the pool had just been filled for the first time in the spring by meltwater. Two days before the break water began to seep out of the dam, which usually is not unusual for an earth dam if it happens at the designated locations. The source spills were seen about 225 m downstream of the dam.
On the morning of June 5, about 9:30 clock, there was a new leak on the right abutment 40 feet below the dam crest. With bulldozers they tried unsuccessfully to stop the leak. The local radio and television reporter appeared, and for the downstream riparian alarm was given. Two bulldozers were included in the eroding embankment and their drivers drawn with lines in safety. At 11:57 noon clock broke the dam. In the evening, about five hours later, the pool was completely empty and one-third of the dam was washed away.
The valley was flooded to 120 kilometers to the mouth of the Snake River in Teton. The cities below directly, as Rexburg, were taken massively. The city of Idaho Falls had further down time to prepare. The engineers were on the old and unstable American Falls Dam ( allegedly) the water before the flood came. The dam held firm until the flood was over. The cleanup lasted throughout the summer.
Consequences
The dam had broken a far-reaching controversy over the safety of American dams result. A program to review all dams was performed thereafter. According to information from the Bureau of Reclamation ( USBR ) today all of the USBR dams are examined under the strict criteria of a safety program. Each system is periodically monitored to assess the viability, the seismic stability, internal defects and physical deterioration.
The dam was never rebuilt. The location is open to the public and can be visited.