ALGERIA - PERREGAUX (today MOHAMMADIA) - CATASTROPHE NOVEMBE - Lot 739

ALGERIA - PERREGAUX (today MOHAMMADIA) - CATASTROPHE NOVEMBER 1927. LE BARRAGE * DE L' OUED FERGOUG et les ATELIERS DE CHEMINS de FER de l' État. collection of 12 impressive postcards, close-ups of the damage caused by the bursting of the hydraulic dam: - four "Dam" cards: before views "under water" and close-ups after the disaster. - eight railway cards: bridge "before" and bridge "after" destroyed, very close-up of a 50-ton locomotive overturned by the waters, aerial view of the station after the disaster, close-ups of the station interior and the destroyed railway workshops, wagons piled up and overturned... * 316-meter-long gravity dam to irrigate the agricultural valley; designed for normal floods of 4 / 500 cubic meters/second. On November 27, after it had rained all week, the dam gave way and a breach 16 meters high and 200 meters wide was created. A gigantic wave rushed towards Perregaux, carrying with it 5 to 6,000 cubic metres of masonry. The tidal wave flowed at a rate of 2,500 cubic metres per second. Three quarters of an hour after the rupture, the floodwaters swept through the town, ripping away houses, bridges, roads, orchards, the railway station and workshops. There were no casualties, only considerable damage; the town hall, warned by the dam engineer, and the population, alerted by sirens and bells, took refuge on the heights.