Chapter
Nov 2, 2022
Emergency Damage Assessment: Guajataca Dam in Puerto Rico
Publication: Forensic Engineering 2022
ABSTRACT
Most engineering investigations follow a few basic steps: Gather background data, make field observations, figure out the problem, and make a report. This paper describes a very hurried investigation at the Guajataca Dam in Puerto Rico, a few days after Hurricane Maria. The dam was severely damaged, and was expected to fail at any time, flooding towns and cities downstream. Authorities needed to know: How long before the dam failed? An Urban Search & Rescue (US&R) team managed to get two engineers to the remote site. Conditions were less than ideal. They had almost no information about the dam, their time at the site was limited to a few hours, and they were not dam experts. But the same investigation steps prevailed—gather data, observe conditions, think it through, and make a report. In the end, a workable plan emerged.
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REFERENCES
CNN. (September 23, 2017). “Puerto Rico dam fails; evacuations begin along Guajataca River”. (Note – Despite the article’s title, the Guajataca Dam had not actually failed, and evacuations had not begun).
NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration). website entry. (2017). “Extremely active 2017 Atlantic hurricane season finally ends”. Website entry includes data on year’s named storms and hurricanes.
ABC. (September 23, 2017). “Puerto Rico’s Failing Guajataca Dam Endangers Thousands”. The article cites a National Weather Service warning: “ … the failure of Guajataca Dam in northwest Puerto Rico is imminent and could lead to flash flooding for some 70,000 people”.
USACE. (November 1, 2017). “Army Engineers continue significant progress in Puerto Rico hurricane recovery operations.”
USACE. (May 31, 2019). “Los trabajos a la Represa Guajataca, ejemplo de multiple agencias trabajando en equipo”, (Guajataca Dam repairs, a successful interagency team effort).
Information & Authors
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Published In
Forensic Engineering 2022
Pages: 517 - 526
History
Published online: Nov 2, 2022
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Authors
Affiliations
P.E.
1Structure Specialist, FEMA Urban Search & Rescue; Senior Partner, Atlas Engineering, Inc., Raleigh, NC. Email: [email protected]
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Terms of Use: ASCE Library Cards are for individual, personal use only. Reselling, republishing, or forwarding the materials to libraries or reading rooms is prohibited.