Dam Failure Case Study: Kelly Barnes Dam (Georgia, 1977)

DamFailures.Org is an ASDSO project that provides individual dam failure case studies and lessons learned as a resource for dam safety engineers, dam operators, owners, regulators, managers, academia and students to help prevent future incidents.

Kelly Barnes Dam was located approximately a half mile upstream (north) of Toccoa Falls Bible College in Stephens County, Georgia. Toccoa Falls, a 186-foot-high waterfall, was located between the dam and the college. The dam site was originally the location of the E.P. Simpson Dam, a wood (cypress) structure, and then rock crib dam built in 1899 to provide water to a small hydro-powerplant. The hydro-plant still stands today but has been abandoned for years. From 1939-1949, the 38-foot-high earth fill dam called Kelly Barnes Dam was built over the top of the existing rock crib dam. This dam included a low-level outlet, consisting of a 30-inch diameter metal pipe along the original streambed. Flow into the outlet was controlled with stop logs at a masonry inlet structure founded on the upstream slope of the dam. An inlet structure for the penstock was also positioned on the upstream face of the dam. Flow through the penstock was regulated via a gate valve.