Report Warns of Increased Dam Failures Due to Extreme Weather

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A new report by the IHE Delft Institute for Water Education, warns that climate change is increasing the frequency and severity of extreme weather events, putting the world’s aging dams, over 70,000 in total, at greater risk of failure, particularly in conflict zones where many dams are abandoned.

The collapse of the Arbaat Dam in Port Sudan, in August after unusually heavy rains caused widespread devastation, leaving over 100 people dead, entire villages washed away, and affecting more than 50,000 people. The report also mentions other recent dam failures, including the Alua Dam in northeastern Nigeria also burst, killing 37 people and displacing thousands, a dam collapse in Kenya in April, and the first anniversary of the collapse of two dams near Derna in Libya, which caused devastating flooding and an estimated 6,000 to 20,000 casualties. 

Three dams collapsed in the Western Cape in South Africa in August, which left more than a hundred people homeless and destroyed livelihoods in the area.