Some of the worst floods in American history have happened because of dam failures.
Water can rise in minutes rather than hours.
In addition, when these dams let loose, they can send walls of water downstream, causing further flood problems. Recent flood death data and Historic death and damage estimates . It is true that a small dam failed during the flood event, but reports show that this occurred during the height of flooding and did not have much impact on the flood hydrology. All Presidentially-declared disasters receive a FEMA disaster number. We know that disasters have occurred in the past and that they will continue to occur in the future.