Catastrophic Fail

December 14, 1963 - It was on this day in Los Angeles that the Baldwin Hills Reservoir crumbled apart and released 250,000,000 gallons of water into the surrounding neighborhoods. 277 homes were destroyed and 5 people died.

Turns out the dam was built atop known fault lines, but the engineers underestimated the ground movements that would occur. Some of the blame was laid on the over-exploitation of a nearby oil field.

The area occupied by the reservoir is now a city park.