Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Extreme
Rainfall
Events
An informational booklet
for policymakers, dam
owners and downstream
communities.
Fiction Fact
That dam has been here for years Many manmade structures including dams, bridges and buildings were not
its not going anywhere. It can built to withstand the extreme rainfall events happening today.
handle any storm.
Advancing age makes dams more susceptible to failure.
The average age of dams in the U.S. is more than 50 years old.
As dams get older, deterioration increases and construction costs rise. Some
common problems of older dams are:
Dams are like roads. The Most dams are privately owned. Dam owners are responsible for
government takes care of them. maintenance and upgrades.
Private dam owners are responsible for more than 65% of the nations dams.
Incidents and emergencies at the dam are handled by the dam owner and local
emergency management officials.
The 100-year flood is the biggest A 100-year flood has a 1% chance of occurring each year or a 26% chance of
storm that can happen, and it can experiencing a flood of that magnitude or greater during the life of a 30-year
only happen once every 100 years. mortgage. There are storms that occur in the U.S. every year that are many
times larger than the 100-year storms.
It never rains that much here? Extreme rainfall events do occur. Storms happen every year, if not here then
somewhere. There are normal storms and extreme storms such as 100-year
storms and probable maximum precipitation (PMP) events.
View how development near a dam can affect the dam's hazard
classification.
Legal Liability
Dam owners are responsible for are not random, unpredictable acts Elevators and major bridges are
the upkeep of their dam and liable, of God that surprise designers and designed for a capacity and weight
both legally and ethically, for all owners with their ferocity. that should never be exceeded.
impacts that occur if the dam We dont ever want that elevator
The impoundment of water is a or bridge to fail and we accept that
should fail. Legal precedent shows
hazardous undertaking. Those who design requirement. Dams are no
that dam owners have been held
benefit from its storage are also different. Just as elevators cables
liable for damages in past cases.
responsible for its containment. and bridge structural members
Although an extreme rainfall Owners must diligently guard must support extreme weight,
event may not have occurred against the catastrophic release of dams must safely withstand
at a given dam location, these this stored water. To do anything extreme rainfall events that, while
events do occur, are quantifiable less, knowing the potential of difficult to imagine, do occur.
and their likeliness is predictable. extreme rainfall events and the
They are the basis of professional dire impacts of failure, would be
design practices for critical dam ethically irresponsible at best,
infrastructure where human lives and grossly negligent at worst.
are at risk. Extreme rainfall events Ignorance is no excuse.
Kaloko Dam Failure, Hawaii A private dam owner pled no contest to reckless endangerment for causing the
deaths of seven people after his dam failed in 2006. He was charged with seven counts of manslaughter. He was also
charged with $12 million in restitution and fees. The EPA portion of the fine $7.5 million was the largest penalty
against an individual polluter in U.S. history.
Hope Mills Lake Dam Failure, North Carolina Litigation has been underway for several years between the Town
of Hope Mills and the owners and designers of a dam which failed in 2010 causing extreme property loss and loss of
the towns centerpiece lake.
Hadlock Pond Dam, New York A municipally owned dam failed in 2005 and was the subject of litigation. There
have been 11 different lawsuits involving 119 plaintiffs. The town and the designers of the failed dam have all been
sued. In addition, the town spent over $4 million replacing the failed dam, which was three times more than the initial
cost because the site had to be cleaned up and the dam rebuilt from scratch.
Taum Sauk Dam Failure, Missouri A private dam-owning company paid over $170 million in restitution and
clean-up costs after one of its dams failed in 2005.
Most dams in the U.S. have spillway relocated. The property tax base in most instances, situated away
systems capable of safely passing can be dramatically reduced from the main body of the dam,
small routine rainfall events. But, when structures and facilities are these planned release flood flows
when the rainfall event becomes damaged. The loss of the critical go to areas and elevations that
an extreme event, the dam may impounded water resource, or the are likely not subject to local flood
experience extensive damage or flood reduction capability, may plain zoning and development
even failure. The dam may not be also stigmatize the communities restrictions. These extreme rainfall
capable of safely storing and/or continuity as public and private events are not likely identified
passing these floodwaters. sector confidence in the on flood insurance maps since
community suffers. insurance requirements are based
While many communities follow on minimal flood design standards.
minimum floodplain management A large majority of dams were
practices, if a dam is above or not intended or designed to store
upstream of a community there is enough flood water to provide
often still the potential risk for loss significant flood protection to areas
of human life. Dam failure floods downstream. Flood waters must
from extreme rainfall events may be allowed to safely pass through
What are the risks from
also cause unprecedented damage designed spillways or risk the extreme rainfall events?
to infrastructure including homes, water flowing over the vulnerable Loss of life and property
schools, small businesses, industrial embankment causing catastrophic
and commercial buildings, failure. Therefore, unusual and Impacts to community,
recreational areas, agricultural substantial downstream flooding schools, economy,
land, farm buildings, military risks may further exist for areas transportation,
facilities, public utilities, roads, below a dam even if a dam does infrastructure, etc.
power infrastructure, energy, and not fail during extreme rainfall
Small businesses and jobs
communication systems. events.
can be affected.
Dam failures caused by extreme While primary spillways are passing
Loss of tax base
events may also cause substantial their maximum amounts of flow,
long term economic damage a dams designed operation steps Loss of water resources
to downstream communities. often include planned releases and/or or flood control
Flooded homes and communities of substantial amounts of flood protection
become stigmatized. Jobs are water through secondary / auxiliary
frequently lost when businesses, spillway channels or gates. As Loss of community
industrial, and commercial facilities these auxiliary spillway features confidence and continuity
are damaged and operations are are infrequently used and they are,
Slope Failure community, may or may not be evident on the downstream slope or
Slope instability can be caused by evident to the casual observer on near the toe of the dam and this can
extreme rainfall events. During the a day to day basis. Seepage may become so concentrated at certain
time of elevated reservoir pool levels develop through the soil particles locations that an uncontrolled
caused by runoff from extreme of an earthfill dam, may travel along seepage path is created directly from
rainfall events, this phreatic surface the outside perimeter of outlet the reservoir to the downstream toe.
will become elevated, possibly to pipes passing through earthfill
levels never before experienced dams, or may travel through the Piping Failure
by the dam. If this phreatic surface naturally occurring materials of the Piping failures can be caused by
begins to approach the surface of foundation under any dam. extreme rainfall events. Again,
the downstream slope, the dam Seepage can be evident on the during the time of elevated reservoir
may experience a structural slope downstream slope or near the pool levels caused by runoff from
failure, which could, under the right downstream toe of earthfill dams. extreme rainfall events, the phreatic
conditions cause a total catastrophic In some dams that were possibly surface will become elevated
failure of the dam and release of the built from less than ideal soils, not within the embankment, possibly
entire reservoir of stored water. compacted sufficiently, built with to levels never before experienced
overly steep downstream slopes or by a dam. The added pressure that
General Seepage any combination of these factors, the elevated reservoir level creates
All dams leak to some extent. the phreatic surface may, intercept on an existing seepage path may
This leakage, commonly referred the downstream slope of the dam. become so strong that soil particles
to as seepage in the engineering When this happens, seepage will be begin to be displaced out of the
Dam owners must recognize their Observe and record Ensure Proper Be in contact with
responsibilities and be vigilant in changes at your dam Design, Construction, your State Dam
addressing any dam deficiencies. or outside factors Maintenance and Safety Office.
One of the most important that affect its safety/ Operation.
performance and be Have an up-to-date
measures owners can take to Adhere to Emergency Action
prepared to respond
reduce the possibility of dam failure accordingly. regulations, no short Plan, Inundation
would be to establish an effective cuts or random Maps.
dam safety program in accordance exemptions.
with their state or federal dam
safety requirements. Such a
program will help to ensure that
potentially dangerous conditions
are recognized, accounted for, and
addressed. The dam safety program
will also help assure that the dam
is meeting current regulations and
standards of care.
Key elements in an owners dam safety program would include the following:
4. Extreme Incident Planning inundation areas by Emergency guidelines relate directly to extreme
including Emergency Action Management Authorities rainfall events and to hazard
Procedures potential classification of the dam.
Monitoring - Emergency Historically, standards for dam
Dams do fail! Often these failures Detection, Evaluation and spillway design floods have varied
will cause extensive property Responsibility Protocol from state to state, but typically
damage, personal injuries and Preventative Action Effective have been specified as a flood
in some situations, loss of life. To response actions to prevent resulting from some significant
minimize the consequences of a failure percentage of an extreme rainfall
dam failure, it is imperative that a event known as the Probable
dam owner prepare an Emergency Maximum Precipitation (PMP).
5. A Dam Owners Obligation -
Action Plan (EAP) for their dam.
Meeting Current Standards Recently published national
An EAP is a formal document that guidelines for selecting and
identifies emergency conditions Spillway Design Criteria accommodating inflow design
at a dam and the areas that would The spillway capacity of any dam floods (IDF) for dam structures
be inundated if the dam were to should, at a minimum, comply (FEMA P-94/August 2013)
fail. It specifies preplanned actions with the current state guidelines recommends more rigorous
to be followed to moderate or for the dams spillway design analyses such as an incremental
alleviate problems at the dam and capacity. Most all of these state dam breach consequence analysis,
to provide adequate downstream
warning of failure. In the case of
a dam failure, the EAP may help
to minimize the consequences of
the failure. EAPs are required by
most State Dam Safety Regulatory
Programs for high hazard dams.
Key components of an EAP
would include:
Inundation Maps indicating
areas that will be impacted by
the dam failure flood wave
Notification Flowcharts for
warning of inhabitants in
a risk based hydrologic hazard high hazard dams is the flood The worse-case of these extreme
analysis or site-specific probable event resulting from the Probable rainfall events has been determined
maximum precipitation analysis. Maximum Flood (PMF). The current by the National Weather Service
recommended standard of care (NWS) to be the Probable
The use of one of the above for dam spillway design to protect Maximum Precipitation (PMP) in the
recommended site specific the safety of individuals inhabiting USA. These PMP events are defined
approaches may result in a more areas downstream of dams is by the NWS as, the greatest depth
cost effective rehabilitation project summarized in Table 2 from FEMA of precipitation for a given duration
for the dam under review than P-94. that is physically possible over a
using just a prescriptive approach
given size storm area at a particular
to spillway design floods. Lawmakers may believe that
geographic location during a
owners are right when they say
Extreme Storm Events As certain time of year. Combining
their state is making them follow
Existing Standard these storm events with the most
some arbitrary design standard
severe hydrologic conditions
Of Care that doesnt relate to their
that are reasonably possible in a
Regardless of the dams size, situation. However in reality these
given drainage basin is the basis
when the costs of conducting requirements are not created in a
of determining the Probable
one of these detailed analyses vacuum nor are they developed
Maximum Flood (PMF) that is the
is prohibitive for the owner, the arbitrarily.
national industry standard for high
recommended design storm for hazard dam design.
Table 2
Hazard Pot. Class. Definition of Hazard Potential Classification Inflow Design Flood
Significant No Probable loss of human life but can cause economic 0.1% (1,000 - year) Annual Chance
loss, environmental damage, or disruption of lifeline Exceedance Flood
facilities due to dam failure or misoperation
Low No probable loss of human life and minimal 1% Annual Chance Exceedance Flood
economic and/or environmental losses due to dam (100-year Flood) or a smaller flood
failure or misoperation justified by rationale
1. Promote proactive dam safety programs that balance sound science and
economics with risk reduction and public safety.