admiralbundy t1_iwk848b wrote on November 16, 2022 at 6:15 AM

Reply to comment by LNMagic in Study indicates flood events at dams will significantly increase over next 80 years due to out of date rainfall modelling and climate change. by unswsydney

How you mean construction methods? Dams generally are not supposed to overtop and the spillway prevents this. But if the rainfall is more intense the spillway may not be large enough, resulting in overtopping (which fails the dam).

LNMagic t1_iwm3x31 wrote on November 16, 2022 at 5:33 PM

With earthen dams, sometimes you get water leaking under or through the dam. If a bulge isn't handled (usually by stacking sand bags on it to counter the pressure), you could end up with a runaway erosion with catastrophic results - especially with half a million people living downstream.