Lago di Pontesei


Lago di Pontesei is a lake in the Province of Belluno, Veneto, Italy.
The dam originally formed a much larger area, which reached the confluence with the Maresón torrent in the Pónt of Péez.
Preceded by numerous warning signs, including the formation of cracks along the roadway bordering the reservoir, on the morning of March 22, 1959 a landslide, with an estimated volume of about 3 million cubic meters, it broke away from the slopes of Mount Castellin and Spiz, on the left bank of the lake, on a front of 500 meters and fell in 2–3 minutes, partially filling the lake. Although the basin was 13 meters below the full load level the landslide caused a wave that overcame the dam and overwhelmed Arcangelo Tiziani, a worker of a construction company, who was carrying out the construction of the power plant downstream of the dam, whose body was never found. The accident is considered an anticipation of the due to the analogy of its unfolding, and, while the Vajont Dam was built in the neighbor Longarone, it was seen with great concern.
The analyzes of the experts indicated that the collapsed material originally constituted a debris blanket, in some places even 20 meters thick

Condition of the basin after the landslide

The rock collapsed, still clearly visible from the road, partially filled the basin, forming a sort of promontory within the lake. ENEL significantly reduced its average load level for security reasons, on the order of civil engineering after the 1966 flood.