What happened to the Teton Dam in 1976?

On June 5, 1976, Teton Dam in southeastern Idaho catastrophically failed. Early that Saturday morning, bulldozer operators tried in vain to plug seepage holes on the downstream face of the dam. By 11 a.m., a torrent of water ripped through the dam, releasing more than one million cubic feet per second.

What happened when the Teton Dam broke?

The collapse of the dam resulted in the deaths of eleven people and 16,000 livestock. The dam cost about $100 million to build and the federal government paid over $300 million in claims related to its failure. Total damage estimates have ranged up to $2 billion. The dam has not been rebuilt.

What year was the Teton flood?

1976
It was forty years ago Sunday — around noon on June 5, 1976 -– when the earthen Teton Dam in eastern Idaho failed, resulting in a massive flood that caused $2 billion in damage, killing eleven people and some 13,000 head of cattle.

What is the failure of Teton Dam?

Teton Dam, a 305-foot high earthfill dam across the Teton River in Madison County, southeast Idaho, failed completely and released the contents of its reservoir at 11:57 AM on June 5, 1976. Failure was initiated by a large leak near the right (northwest) abutment of the dam, about 130 feet below the crest.

How many people died in Teton Dam Break?

11 people
Less than one year later, the dam experienced catastrophic failure on June 5, 1976 during its first filling. Failure of the Teton Dam and subsequent draining of the reservoir caused the deaths of 11 people and approximately $400 million in damages.

Was the Teton Dam rebuilt?

The Teton Dam was never rebuilt, but you can still visit its remains at a site just three miles east of the town of Newdale, right off of Highway 33. At the site, visitors can observe the ruins that have been left to stand silently among the Snake River Plains for over four decades.

What town did Teton Dam flood?

As the world soon learned, the 305-foot-high Teton Dam had broken in half. Its collapse sent a wall of water through the Teton River canyon, north of the town of Newdale in Fremont County. Downstream, with no canyon to contain it, the flood fanned out for miles across the Snake River Plain.

Why did the Teton Dam failure?

It was determined the most probable physical failure mode was cracking of the dam’s impervious core due to internal erosion initiated by hydraulic fracturing of the key trench fill material. Teton Dam was located in an area with highly permeable foundation materials.

How many dams have collapsed in the US?

Yet about 1,000 dams have failed over the past four decades, killing 34 people, according to Stanford University’s National Performance of Dams Program. Built for flood control, irrigation, water supply, hydropower, recreation or industrial waste storage, the nation’s dams are over a half-century old on average.

What was the largest dam failure disaster in U.S. history?

After several days of heavy rainfall in May 1889, the South Fork Dam 14 miles upstream of Johnstown in Pennsylvania failed catastrophically. The resulting flood of 1889 killed more than 2,200 people and caused US$17m damage. It is still the worst dam disaster in US history.