Situ Gintung dam failure
Situ Gintung is an artificial lake near to the town of Cirendeu in the city of South Tangerang, Indonesia. It was formed by a dam up to 16 m (52 ft) high which was built by Dutch colonial authorities in 1933. The dam failed on 27 March 2009, draining the lake, with resulting floods killing at least 100 people. The area experienced several hours of heavy rain on the night of 26-27 March 2009 which caused the dam level to rise, apparently because the gate leading to the spillway was too small. The dam was overtopped, eroding the dam surface and resulting in a breach 70 m (230 ft) wide at around 2 am.
Elsie Eaves died
Elsie Eaves was a pioneering American female engineer, the first female associate member of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), and a founding member of the American Association of Cost Engineers (now AACE International; the Association for the Advancement of Cost Engineering).
1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens
On March 27, 1980, a series of volcanic explosions and pyroclastic flows began at Mount St. Helens in Skamania County, Washington, United States. A series of phreatic blasts occurred from the summit and escalated until a major explosive eruption took place on May 18, 1980, at 8:32 am. The eruption, which had a Volcanic Explosivity Index of 5, was the most significant to occur in the contiguous United States since the much smaller 1915 eruption of Lassen Peak in California. t has often been declared the most disastrous volcanic eruption in U.S. history.
Washington Metro opened
The Washington Metro, often abbreviated as the Metro and formally the Metrorail, is a rapid transit system serving the Washington metropolitan area of the United States. Opened in 1976, the network now includes six lines, 98 stations, and 129 miles (208 km) of route. In 2022, the system had a ridership of 93,049,300, or about 415,900 per weekday as of the second quarter of 2023, making it the second-busiest heavy rail rapid transit system in the United States, in number of passenger trips, after the New York City Subway, and the fifth-busiest in North America.
1964 Alaska earthquake
The 1964 Alaskan earthquake, also known as the Great Alaskan earthquake and Good Friday earthquake, occurred at 5:36 PM AKST on Good Friday, March 27. Across south-central Alaska, ground fissures, collapsing structures, and tsunamis resulting from the earthquake caused about 131 deaths. Lasting four minutes and thirty-eight seconds, the magnitude 9.2 megathrust earthquake remains the most powerful earthquake ever recorded in North America, and the second most powerful earthquake ever recorded in the world since modern seismography began in 1900.
James P. Kirkwood was born
Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, James Pugh Kirkwood was a 19th-century American civil engineer, and general superintendent of the Erie Railroad in the year 1849-1850. In 1848 he completed the Starrucca Viaduct, which was considered to be the most expensive railroad bridge at the time, as well as the largest stone viaduct. He later served as president of the American Society of Civil Engineers.
