City of Irvine
2020 Local Hazard Mitigation Plan
Figure 4-2: Dam Inundation Physical Threat
Social Threat
Dam Failure hazards in the City would impact a variety of downstream properties. Given the number of dams in the City, Table 4-4 identifies individual dam impacts from six of the seven dams within the City. Impacts associated with San Joaquin Reservoir are not provided due to limited areas of impact. Failure of these dams could cause harm to downstream properties, with the greatest amount of people potentially affected by the Rattlesnake Canyon dam. Both the San Canyon and Villa Park Dams would impact populations that have a lower median household income than the Citywide population. In addition, all dams would impact a higher percentage of populations living with a disability. The Sand Canyon dam has the potential to affect a significant number (42.1%) of households with one member ages 65+. This indicator, coupled with a median household income that is nearly half of the City median household income, suggests that residents in the inundation area of this dam are especially vulnerable to this hazard.
Other Threats
Dam failures are often triggered by other events (seismic shaking, intense rainstorms, etc..). Often when these events occur, there would almost certainly be service disruptions in Irvine. Floodwaters would quickly inundate downstream portions of the City, disrupting utilities, such as water, power, and heating, as well as other services such as communications or transportation infrastructure, especially since most
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