Lago di Pontesei is a

lake A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from ...

in the Province of Belluno, Veneto, Italy. The dam originally formed a much larger area, which reached the confluence with the Maresón torrent in the Pónt of Péez.

Pontesei Landslide

Preceded by numerous warning signs, including the formation of cracks along the roadway bordering the reservoir, on the morning of March 22, 1959 a

landslide Landslides, also known as landslips, rockslips or rockslides, are several forms of mass wasting that may include a wide range of ground movements, such as rockfalls, mudflows, shallow or deep-seated slope failures and debris flows. Landslides ...

, with an estimated volume of about , it broke away from the slopes of Mount Castellin and Spiz, on the left bank of the lake, on a front of and fell in two to three minutes, partially filling the lake. Although the basin was below the full load level the landslide caused a wave that overcame the dam and overwhelmed Arcangelo Tiziani, a worker of a construction company, who was carrying out the construction of the power plant downstream of the dam, whose body was never found. The accident is considered to have foreshadowed the thanks to the similar way it unfolded, and, while the

Vajont Dam The Vajont Dam or Vaiont Dam is a disused hydro-electric dam in northern Italy. It is one of the tallest dams in the world, with a height of . It is in the valley of the Vajont (river) under Monte Toc, in the municipality of Erto e Casso, ...

was built in neighbouring

Longarone Longarone is a town and ''comune'' on the banks of the Piave in the province of Belluno, in northeast Italy. It is situated from Belluno. 4,642 people work all together in Longarone, which is 112.62% of the total population, with most actual in ...

, it was observed with great concern. The analysis of the experts indicated that the collapsed material originally constituted a debris blanket, in some places even thick

Condition of the basin after the landslide

The rock collapsed, still clearly visible from the road, partially filled the basin (which until 1966 continued to be filled up to its maximum depth), forming a sort of promontory within the lake.

ENEL Enel S.p.A. is an Italian multinational manufacturer and distributor of electricity and gas. Enel was first established as a public body at the end of 1962, and then transformed into a limited company in 1992. In 1999, following the liberali ...

significantly reduced its average load level for safety reasons, on the order of

civil engineering Civil engineering is a regulation and licensure in engineering, professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads ...

after the 1966 flood.''Sulla pelle viva. Come si costruisce una catastrofe: il caso del Vajont'' by , Cierre Editions (2001), pp. 67-68,

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pontesei Lakes of Veneto Artificial lakes of Italy Dam failures in Europe