DAM SAFE. Today is National Dam Safety Awareness Day according to FEMA. They recently sent a press release in remembrance of the historic Johnstown Dam Failure to highlight dam safety.

Each year, on May 31, Pennsylvanians are encouraged to remember the devastating failure of the South Fork Dam in Johnstown, in 1889, which resulted in the loss of more than 2,200 lives that day. According to FEMA, it was the worst dam failure in the history of the US.

In response to that detrimental event, National Dam Safety Awareness Day was created to “encourage and promote individual and community responsibility for dam safety, as well as to provide information on what steps can be taken to prevent future structural dam failures,” the FEMA release stated. Secondary to that goal on this day is to promote the benefits dams can offer communities, which we should understand all too well with our neighboring Kinzua Dam in Warren. Also, in the FEMA Region 3 alone there are nearly 5,300 dams in our state, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia.

For over 30 years, the federal government has been working to protect communities from dam failure through FEMA’s National Dam Safety Program State Assistance Grant Program. The program provides funding for dam safety training and also enhances dam inspection requirements. FEMA also offers Collaborative Technical Assistance to help communities with dams better understand their risk and the consequences of dam-related emergencies.

For instance, if Kinzua Dam were to ever fail, FEMA suggests surrounding communities: evacuate as soon as possible; do not attempt to drive or walk through rushing water; and if you cannot evacuate, go to the highest part of your home and call 911 for help.

Additional information on national dam safety is available at www.fema.gov/emergency-managers/risk-management/dam-safety.