Remembering Welsh dam tragedy

5 November 2015


A special service to mark the 90th anniversary of a double dam tragedy in Dolgarrog, North Wales took place on 2 November. The tragedy claimed the lives of 16 people when millions of gallons of water poured into the village in 1925.

Flooding was triggered by failure of the Eigiau Dam, a small gravity structure which was owned by the Aluminium Corporation and breached following two weeks of heavy rain. Water from the reservoir flooded downstream, overtopping the Coedty dam which then failed and released up to 350B litres of water and debris into Dolgarrog.

The disaster led to the passing of the Reservoirs (Safety Provisions) Act in 1930, which introduced laws on the safety of reservoirs and led to improved construction requirements for dams.



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