Malpasset Dam
Coordinates: 43°30′43.48″N 6°45′23.40″E / 43.5120778°N 6.7565000°E
The Malpasset Dam was an arch dam on the Reyran River, located approximately 7 km north of Fréjus on the French Riviera (Côte d'Azur), southern France, in the Var département. It collapsed on December 2, 1959, killing 423 people in the resulting flood. The damage amounted to an equivalent total of $68 million.
The dam was a doubly curved equal angle arch type with variable radius. It was built to supply drinking and irrigation water for the region. Construction began in April 1952 and was finished in 1954. Another source reports that construction began as early as 1941. Delays due to lack of funding and labor strikes interrupted construction a few times. The project was led by well-known French engineer André Coyne. Construction cost 580 million francs (by 1955 prices), and was funded and owned by Var département. Concurrent with the dam construction, the A8 autoroute was also being built 1,400 meters further down the course of the Reyran from the dam location.
The dam was breached at 21:13 on December 2, 1959. The entire wall collapsed with only a few blocks remaining on the right bank. Pieces of the dam are still scattered throughout the area.
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