Kelly Barnes Dam
Coordinates: 34 ° 36 ′ 1 ″ N , 83 ° 21 ′ 44 ″ W.
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The Kelly Barnes Dam in 1977 claimed 39 lives. The dam was at Toccoa in Stephens County , Georgia (USA).
The dam was originally built in 1899 with a "rock crib dam" (cells with dam beams made of wood or concrete, which are filled with earth or rock) to store a small hydroelectric power station. In 1937, the Toccoa Falls Bible Institute (later Toccoa Falls College ) needed a more reliable source of electricity and built a larger earth dam on the site of the old dam. The dam was raised several times until it was 42 feet above the foundation level. This expansion provided power to the Toccoa Falls Bible Institute until 1957. After that, the power plant was shut down and the lake was only used for recreational activities and recreational resources.
At around 1:30 a.m. on Sunday, November 6, 1977, the Kelly Barnes Dam failed after heavy rainfall. The tidal wave claimed 39 lives on the Toccoa Falls College campus and caused property damage of $ 2.8 million at the time. A clear cause could not be found in the investigation report (see web link). On the steep air side there was probably a landslide and erosion due to " piping " (formation of tubes in the ground), then local collapse of the dam crest, and progressive erosion with water saturation of the air side embankment .
The dam was not rebuilt.
See also
Web links
- Stephens County Roads and Waters Map
- Kelly Barnes Dam Flood of November 6, 1977, near Toccoa, Georgia ( Memento from May 27, 2010 on the Internet Archive )
- USGS-Report of Failure of Kelly Barnes Dam Flood and Findings (English)
- Toccoa Flood (English)