The Baldwin Hills, California Dam Disaster
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Date
1964-08-14
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Disaster Research Center
Abstract
Description
Cn Saturday, December 14, 1963 at 3:30 P.M. a break in the Baldwin
Hills Dam in Los Angeles sent a torrent of water onto the hillside and
valley below, causing extensive destruction in an estimated one square
mile residential and business area.
The 292.4 million gallons of water that had been stored in the reservoir battered out the sides of houses and
completely demolished many buildings; household items such as furniture
and refrigerators were swept away and mud and debris were spread for
miles. Many residents who either did not hear the warnings to evacuate or
failed to heed them fled to their rooftops and other buildings and were later
rescued by helicopters. Only five people were killed, but 27 other persons were injured enough to require hospitalization despite the extensive damage
to both public and private property which ran to several million dollars.
On Sunday, December 15 at 1l:30 A.M. a three man Disaster Research
Center team arrived in Los Angeles.
The primary purpose of the trip was
to provide the team with field experience, and thus it represented for the
most part a training exercise rather than a systematic study. Also important
in the DRS's decision to send a field team to Los Angles was the
was fact the disaster took place in a major metropolitan area. While most
disaster studies have involved urban areas, very few have had metropolitan
areas as their chief focus. Finally, the DRC felt that a study of the Baldwin
Hills disaster afforded an opportunity to obtain greater insight into group
and organizational problems and responses in a dam disaster occurring in
a domestic setting. Some observations concerning this type of disaster in a foreign setting were obtained from a study by the DRC of the Vaiont Dam disaster which occured in northeastern Italy on October 9, 1963.
Keywords
Baldwin Hills, California, Dam Disaster, Observations