In 1802, following extremely heavy rains, the stakes upon which the reservoir dam of Puentes (north of Lorca) had been built proved to be insufficiently robust and were washed away. The dam burst, setting in motion the greatest disaster in the history of Spanish water engineering. The flood killed 608 people in Lorca and 328 in the countryside. The reservoir had a capacity of 13 million cubic meters and was, at the time, the largest reservoir in the world.
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Further Readings:
- Gunn, Angus M., ed. Encyclopedia of Disasters: Environmental Catastrophes and Human Tragedies. 2 vols. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2008.
Day:
30
Month:
4
Year:
1802