Cwm Carne
Coordinates: 51 ° 50 ′ 0 ″ N , 3 ° 12 ′ 0 ″ W.
The Cwm Carne Reservoir is or was a reservoir north of Newport , Wales , United Kingdom. In 1875 a dam broke here, which resulted in twelve deaths.
The construction
The dam , built in 1792 from loose earth material, was 12 m high and sealed inside with poor quality clay. The reservoir contained 90,000 cubic meters of water. It served the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal for water supply. It was neglected for years because it was barely used, hardly repaired, suffered internal erosion for many years and was therefore in poor condition. There should have been two leaks with water leaks for a long time.
The misfortune
On July 14, 1875 at 5:30 p.m. the dam was flooded after heavy rainfall until it broke at 11 p.m. The result was a tidal wave that killed twelve people.
swell
- GJ Jee: The Cwm Carne reservoir. In: Transactions of South Wales Institute of Engineers. Volume 10, 1877, pp. 136-224.
- RA Smith: The failure of Cwm Carne reservoir, 1875. In: Dams & Reservoirs. Volume 2, 1992, pp. 17-19.