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Malpasset
The Malpasset Dam was an arch dam (convex surface facing upstream) on the Reyran, Reyran River, north of Fréjus on the French Riviera. It collapsed on 2 December 1959, killing 423 people in the resulting flood. The breach was caused by a tectonic fault in the impermeable rock base, which had been inadequately surveyed. Nearby road-building works, using explosives, may also have contributed to the disaster. Construction The dam was a doubly curved equal angle arch type with variable radius. It was built to supply drinking and irrigation water for the region. Construction began in April 1952 and was finished in 1954. Another source reports that construction began as early as 1941. Delays due to lack of funding and labor strikes interrupted construction a few times. The project was led by well-known French engineer Andre Coyne, André Coyne. Construction cost 580 million francs (by 1955 prices), and was funded and owned by Var (département), Var Département in France, département ...
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Vajont Dam
The Vajont Dam (or Vaiont Dam) is a disused dam in northern Italy. It is one of the tallest dams in the world, with a height of . It is in the valley of the Vajont River under Monte Toc, in the municipality of Erto e Casso, north of Venice. The dam was conceived in the 1920s and eventually built between 1957 and 1960 by Società Adriatica di Elettricità (SADE), at the time the electricity supply and distribution monopoly in northeastern Italy. The engineer was Carlo Semenza (1893–1961). In 1962 the dam was nationalized and came under the control of ENEL as part of the Italian Ministry for Public Works. On 9 October 1963, during initial filling, a landslide caused a megatsunami in the lake in which of water overtopped the dam in a wave of , which brought massive flooding and destruction to the Piave Valley below, leading to the destruction of several villages and towns, causing between 1,900 and 2,500 estimated deaths. The dam remained almost intact and two thirds ...
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Reyran
The Reyran is a torrent of the Var department in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France and a tributary of the Argens. It is an ephemeral stream, 26.8 km long, which originates in Bagnols-en-Forêt in the Var, 12 km from Fréjus. The Reyran flows only three months a year and can be dry the rest of the year. Its flow is very irregular. The annual rate is 22.70 million m3 and once every 30 years reaches to only 15.75 million m3. The rate is highest during the months of December, January and April. The flow rate is sometimes zero during July and August. During the summer months, the river bed may present a series of isolated ponds that decrease in size by the day. The bed of the Reyran is made of coarse sand and gravel up to 30–40 cm. Their lithology is that of surrounding rocks: sandstone, gneiss, pegmatite, volcanic rocks. Fréjus The Reyran is piped in through the city of Fréjus. A concrete canal was built after the Malpasset Dam failure. These are preventive mea ...
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Dam Failure
A dam failure or dam burst is a catastrophic type of structural failure characterized by the sudden, rapid, and uncontrolled release of impounded water or the likelihood of such an uncontrolled release. Between the years 2000 and 2009 more than 200 notable dam failures happened worldwide. A dam is a barrier across flowing water that obstructs, that directs or slows down the flow, often creating a reservoir, lake or impoundments. Most dams have a section called a ''spillway or weir'' over or through which water flows, either intermittently or continuously, and some have hydroelectric power generation systems installed. Dams are considered "installations containing dangerous forces" under International humanitarian law due to the massive impact of a possible destruction on the civilian population and the environment. Dam failures are comparatively rare, but can cause immense damage and loss of life when they occur. In 1975 the failure of the Banqiao Reservoir Dam and other dams ...
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Fréjus
Fréjus (; ) is a commune in the Var department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in Southeastern France. In 2019, it had a population of 54,458. It neighbours Saint-Raphaël, effectively forming one urban agglomeration. The north of the commune forms part of the Massif de l'Esterel. On 2 December 1959, the Malpasset Dam, on the Reyran River above the city of Fréjus, ruptured, killing over 400 people. History The origins of Frejus probably lie with the Celto- Ligurian people who settled around the natural harbour of Aegytna. The remains of a defensive wall are still visible on Mont Auriasque and Cap Capelin. The Phocaeans of Marseille later established an outpost on the site. Foundation Frejus was strategically situated at an important crossroads formed by the Via Julia Augusta (which ran between Italy and the Rhône) and the Via Domitia. Although there are only few traces of a settlement at that time, it is known that the poet Cornelius Gallus was born there ...
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Dams In France
A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, aquaculture, and navigability. Hydropower is often used in conjunction with dams to generate electricity. A dam can also be used to collect or store water which can be evenly distributed between locations. Dams generally serve the primary purpose of retaining water, while other structures such as floodgates or levees (also known as dikes) are used to manage or prevent water flow into specific land regions. The earliest known dam is the Jawa Dam in Jordan, dating to 3,000 BC. The word ''dam'' can be traced back to Middle English, and before that, from Middle Dutch, as seen in the names of many old cities, such as Amsterdam and Rotterdam. History Ancient dams Early dam building took place in Mesopotamia and the Middle East. Dams were used ...
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List Of Hydroelectric Power Station Failures
This is a list of major hydroelectric power station failures due to damage to a hydroelectric power station or its connections. Every generating station trips from time to time due to minor defects and can usually be restarted when the defect has been remedied. Various protections are built into the stations to cause shutdown before major damage is caused. Some hydroelectric power station failures may go beyond the immediate loss of generation capacity, including destruction of the turbine itself, reservoir breach and significant destruction of national grid infrastructure downstream. These can take years to remedy in some cases. Where a generating station is large compared to the connected grid capacity, any failure can cause extensive disruption within the network. A serious failure in a proportionally large hydroelectric generating station or its associated transmission line will remove a large block of power from the grid that may lead to widespread disturbances. List ...
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Vega De Tera Disaster
The Vega de Tera disaster, (also known as the Ribadelago disaster [''Catástrofe de Ribadelago'']) was a flood that occurred on the early morning of January 9, 1959 in the Province of Zamora, Spain. The flood was caused by the failure of a dam, releasing water from the Vega de Tera reservoir. A total of 144 of the 664 residents in Ribadelago were killed. It was the first of two fatal dam failures in Europe that year; in December, the collapse of the Malpasset Dam resulted in over 400 fatalities. Background The Tera River basin located within Sanabria Lake Natural Park, is a geological Horst (geology), horst, uplifted by the Cabrera Valley Fault in the north, and the Las Portillas Fault in the south. The horst is part of the Montes de León mountain range. The range consists of granite, gneiss and volcaniclastics, volcanic rocks. The dam was constructed over the Tera River. Construction of the dam began in 1954 and ended in 1956, with the dam wall high and spanning across. It h ...
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1959 Disasters In France
Events January * January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 - Lunar probe Luna 1 was the first man-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reached the vicinity of Earth's Moon, and was also the first spacecraft to be placed in heliocentric orbit. * January 3 ** The three southernmost atolls of the Maldive Islands, Maldive archipelago (Addu Atoll, Huvadhu Atoll and Fuvahmulah island) United Suvadive Republic, declare independence. ** Alaska is admitted as the 49th U.S. state. * January 4 ** In Cuba, rebel troops led by Che Guevara and Camilo Cienfuegos enter the city of Havana. ** Léopoldville riots: At least 49 people are killed during clashes between the police and participants of a meeting of the ABAKO Party in Kinshasa, Léopoldville in the Belgian Congo. * January 6 ** Fidel Castro arrives in Havana. ** The International Maritime Organization is inaugurated. * January 7 – The United States reco ...
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A8 Autoroute
The A8 autoroute, also known as La Provençale, is a -long highway in France that runs between Aix-en-Provence and the A7 to the Côte d'Azur. Route The A8 is an extension of the A7 starting to the west of Aix-en-Provence at La Fare-les-Oliviers. The road passes through the Departments of Bouches-du-Rhône, Var and Alpes-Maritimes. It serves the towns of Aix-en-Provence, Fréjus, Saint-Raphaël, Mandelieu-la-Napoule, Cannes, Antibes, Nice, Monaco and Menton before crossing the border where it becomes the A10 in Italy. It crosses the mountain ranges of Sainte-Baume and of Maures between Aix-en-Provence and Fréjus and the Massif de l'Esterel between Saint-Raphaël and Cannes. Following the Grande Corniche the road offers panoramas of the sea between Nice and Menton. Capacity * 2x3 lanes from Coudoux (the junction with the A7 to La Barque (junction with the A52). * 2x2 lanes from La Barque to Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume (being expanded to 2x3 lanes) increases to 2x3 l ...
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Lake Lanier (North Carolina)
Lake Lanier (officially Lake Sidney Lanier) is a reservoir in the northern portion of the U.S. state of Georgia. It was created by the completion of Buford Dam on the Chattahoochee River in 1956, and is also fed by the waters of the Chestatee River. The lake encompasses or of water, and of shoreline at normal level, a "full pool" of above mean sea level and the exact shoreline varies by resolution according to the coastline paradox. Named for poet Sidney Lanier, it was built and is operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for flood control and water supplies. Its construction destroyed more than of farmland and displaced more than 250 families, 15 businesses, and relocated 20 cemeteries along with their corpses in the process. It is patrolled by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources (GDNR), as well as local law enforcement. The states of Georgia, Alabama and Florida all have rights to the water of the reservoir, as it feeds rivers going through those areas. The Co ...
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Buildings And Structures In Var (department)
A building, or edifice, is an enclosed structure with a roof and walls standing more or less permanently in one place, such as a house or factory (although there's also portable buildings). Buildings come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and functions, and have been adapted throughout history for a wide number of factors, from building materials available, to weather conditions, land prices, ground conditions, specific uses, prestige, and aesthetic reasons. To better understand the term ''building'' compare the list of nonbuilding structures. Buildings serve several societal needs – primarily as shelter from weather, security, living space, privacy, to store belongings, and to comfortably live and work. A building as a shelter represents a physical division of the human habitat (a place of comfort and safety) and the ''outside'' (a place that at times may be harsh and harmful). Ever since the first cave paintings, buildings have also become objects or canvasses of much artistic ...
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Reservoirs In France
A reservoir (; from French language, French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to water storage, store fresh water or it may be a natural formation. Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including controlling a watercourse that drains an existing body of water, interrupting a watercourse to form an Bay, embayment within it, through excavation, or building any number of retaining walls or levees. In other contexts, "reservoirs" may refer to storage spaces for various fluids; they may hold liquids or gasses, including hydrocarbons. ''Tank reservoirs'' store these in ground-level, elevated, or buried storage tanks, tanks. Tank reservoirs for water are also called cisterns. Most underground reservoirs are used to store liquids, principally either water or petroleum. Types Dammed valleys Dammed reservoirs are artificial lakes created and controlled by a dam constructed across a valley, and rely on the natural ...
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