Reconnaissance Report on the Failure of Kelly Barnes Lake Dam, Toccoa Falls, Georgia

At 1:20 a.m., Sunday, November 6, 1977, a small earth dam on Toccoa Creek failed suddenly during a period of very intense rainfall following several days of modest rain. The flood of water released produced a wave about 25 feet high. It traveled down the narrow stream gorge about 1/2 mile to where it dropped over the 160-foot-high Toccoa Falls. The impact of water created a second wave that spread over the creek valley below the falls, damaging buildings, collapsing house trailers, washing out several bridges, breaking a 16-inch water main that supplied the town of Toccoa, and killing 38 persons. The damage was confined to the flood­plain of Toccoa Creek below the falls, a path 200 to 500 feet wide and 1 1/2 miles long. Still farther downstream, there was flooding of farm­land, local erosion, and bridge damage, but apparently no major damage.