Morvi dam failure

The Morvi dam failure is the worst flood disaster to happen in independent India. On August 11, 1979, the Machchu-2 dam, situated on the Machhu, river burst ^[1] and that sent a wall of water through the town of Morvi in Indian state of Gujarat killing from 1500 to 15000 people.^[2][3] It was caused by excessive rain and massive flooding. The spillway capacity provided for 5663 m³/s. But the actual observed flood during intense rainfall became 16307 m³/s, 3 times what was designed - that caused the collapse of the dam. Within 20 minutes the floods of 12 to 30 ft (3.7 to 9.1 m) height inundated the low-lying areas of Morvi industrial town located 5 km below the dam. During reconstruction of the dam the capacity of the spillway was increased by 4 times and fixed at about 21,000 m³/s.^[4]

References

1. ^ . JSTOR 4367866. 
2. ^ 1,800 : http://www.jstor.org/stable/4373178
3. ^ 15,000 : http://www.planat.ch/index.php?userhash=6437589&nav=4,474,474,474&l=e
4. ^ "POLAVARAM DAM FAILURE KILLS 45 LAKHS OF PEOPLE". http://profshivajirao.googlepages.com/polavaramdam-1. Retrieved 2009-01-22. 

External links

• [1]
• [2]

Coordinates: 22°40′40″N 70°54′58″E / 22.67778°N 70.91611°E / 22.67778; 70.91611

there was great economic loss.flood damaged the farmland leading to decrease in productivity of crops.