Big Bay Dam

The breach is clearly visible in this NOAA photograph

Big Bay Dam was an earthen dam located

11 miles west of Purvis, Mississippi in
Lamar County. On March 12, 2004 the Big
Bay dam embankment failed through
piping in the vicinity of the principal
spillway 12 years after construction. A
peak breach flow of 147,000 ft3/s (4,200
m3/s) was estimated from the breach
geometry, breach timing and the reservoir
volume.[1] The Big Bay embankment, which
is largely intact, is approximately 1890 feet
long and 51.3 feet high. The failure
occurred with an initial water surface
about 6 inches (0.15 m) above the normal
pool elevation of 278.0 ft (84.73 m),
releasing 14,200 ac-ft (17,500,000 m3) of
water and inundating 14.3 miles (23.0 km)
of valley to depths of up to 33 ft (10 m)
from the dam to the Pearl River. Woody
material was stripped from the stream
valley for a length of 2300 ft (700 m)
immediately below the dam, after which
velocities decreased to such an extent that
little vegetation was uprooted.

The inundation impacted Bay Creek and

Lower Little Creek in Lamar and Marion
Counties. A damage assessment [2]
indicated that, within Lamar County, 26
homes were destroyed, 8 homes had
major damage, 8 homes had minor
damage, 25 mobile homes were destroyed
and 1 mobile home had minor damage. In
Marion County, 1 home was destroyed, 13
homes had major damage, 12 homes had
minor damage, 1 mobile home was
destroyed, 3 mobile homes had major
damage, 3 mobile homes had minor
damage, Pine Burr Church suffered major
damage, Hub Chapel Church had minor
damage, and the Pinebur Volunteer Fire
Department suffered major damage. In all,
104 structures were documented as
damaged or destroyed.[1] No human lives
were lost.[1]

The dam breach characteristics,

specifically the breach geometry and
formation time, were estimated by
Yochum et al. 2008. The breach width was
measured to be 230 ft (70 m), with a top
width of 315 ft (96 m), right side slope of
0.61 and a left side slope of 1.3
(horizontal/vertical). In regard to the
breach timing, increased discharge from a
pre-existing seep was first noticed on
Thursday, March 11.[3] The seep gradually
increased its discharge, with the flow
carrying material by the next morning. At
mid-morning on March 12 the seep was
inspected and was noticed that it had
about a ½ inch of head height. By 12:15
water “shot up out of the hole”. Shortly
after this the seep was observed to be
“spouting approximately 2 to 3 ft in height,
with a diameter of about 18 inches”. The
area around the boil then collapsed and
the embankment began to rapidly erode.
This is the point where the breach is
assumed to start, at about 12:20. The final
breach dimensions occurred from about
13:10. Full formation is assumed to occur
at 13:15—the breach formation time is
estimated to be 55 minutes.[4]

Another NOAA photo shows some damage caused by

the flood

References
1. Yochum, S.E.; Goertz, L.A.; Jones, P.H.
(2008). "Case Study of the Big Bay
Dam Failure: Accuracy and
Comparison of Breach Predictions".
Journal of Hydraulic Engineering. 134
(9): 1285–1293.
doi:10.1061/(ASCE)0733-
9429(2008)134:9(1285) .
2. MEMA. 2004. “NEWS: Governor
Barbour requests federal assistance.”
News release, Mississippi Emergency
Management Agency, March 22, 2004.
3. Burge, T.R. (2004) Big Bay Dam:
Evaluation of Failure Land Partners
Limited Partnership, Hattiesburg, MS.
 4. Report from National Oceanographic
and Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA) in Jackson, MS

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