Earth Sciences

Increasing dam failure risk in the USA due to compound rainfall clusters as climate changes

J. Hwang and U. Lall

This research by Jeongwoo Hwang and Upmanu Lall explores alarming trends in rainfall patterns linked to 552 dam failures across the US since 2000, revealing that compound precipitation events are on the rise and pose serious risks to our aging infrastructure.

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Playback language: English

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Abstract

This paper analyzes rainfall patterns associated with 552 dam failures in the US since 2000, finding that compound precipitation events (combinations of preceding rainfall and a single extreme event) are more common than solely extreme 1-day rainfall events. The probability of these compound events has increased across much of the country, raising concerns about future dam failures, particularly given the aging infrastructure.

Publisher

npj Natural Hazards

Published On

Oct 10, 2024

Authors

Jeongwoo Hwang, Upmanu Lall

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