St. Francis Dam disaster
E1038932
The St. Francis Dam disaster was a catastrophic 1928 dam failure in California that unleashed a deadly flood, killing hundreds and prompting major reforms in American dam engineering and water management.
All labels observed (3)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| St. Francis Dam | 1 |
| St. Francis Dam disaster canonical | 1 |
| St. Francis Dam failure | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T13413948 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: St. Francis Dam disaster Context triple: [William Mulholland, associatedWith, St. Francis Dam disaster]
-
A.
Teton Dam failure flooding
Teton Dam failure flooding refers to the catastrophic 1976 collapse of the Teton Dam in Idaho, which unleashed a massive flood that devastated downstream communities such as Rexburg.
-
B.
Vanport flood of 1948
The Vanport flood of 1948 was a catastrophic Columbia River flood that destroyed the wartime housing city of Vanport, Oregon, killing at least 15 people and displacing tens of thousands, many of them Black shipyard workers and their families.
-
C.
Bonneville flood
The Bonneville flood was a massive prehistoric outburst flood that occurred when ancient Lake Bonneville catastrophically drained, reshaping much of the Snake River Plain and surrounding landscapes in the northwestern United States.
-
D.
Oroville Dam
Oroville Dam is a large earthfill embankment dam on the Feather River in Northern California, serving as a key water storage, flood control, and hydroelectric facility.
-
E.
San Andreas Dam
San Andreas Dam is an earth-fill embankment dam in San Mateo County, California, that impounds San Andreas Lake as part of the Hetch Hetchy Regional Water System serving the San Francisco Bay Area.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: St. Francis Dam disaster Target entity description: The St. Francis Dam disaster was a catastrophic 1928 dam failure in California that unleashed a deadly flood, killing hundreds and prompting major reforms in American dam engineering and water management.
-
A.
Teton Dam failure flooding
Teton Dam failure flooding refers to the catastrophic 1976 collapse of the Teton Dam in Idaho, which unleashed a massive flood that devastated downstream communities such as Rexburg.
-
B.
Vanport flood of 1948
The Vanport flood of 1948 was a catastrophic Columbia River flood that destroyed the wartime housing city of Vanport, Oregon, killing at least 15 people and displacing tens of thousands, many of them Black shipyard workers and their families.
-
C.
Bonneville flood
The Bonneville flood was a massive prehistoric outburst flood that occurred when ancient Lake Bonneville catastrophically drained, reshaping much of the Snake River Plain and surrounding landscapes in the northwestern United States.
-
D.
Oroville Dam
Oroville Dam is a large earthfill embankment dam on the Feather River in Northern California, serving as a key water storage, flood control, and hydroelectric facility.
-
E.
San Andreas Dam
San Andreas Dam is an earth-fill embankment dam in San Mateo County, California, that impounds San Andreas Lake as part of the Hetch Hetchy Regional Water System serving the San Francisco Bay Area.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (50)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
dam failure
ⓘ
flood disaster ⓘ historical event ⓘ industrial disaster ⓘ |
| affectedArea |
San Francisquito Canyon
ⓘ
Santa Clara River Valley ⓘ Santa Clarita Valley ⓘ
linked to:
Santa Clarita Valley urban area
Ventura County, California ⓘ
linked to:
Ventura County
|
| alsoKnownAs |
St. Francis Dam failure
ⓘ
linked to:
St. Francis Dam disaster
|
| category |
1928 disasters in the United States
ⓘ
dam failures in the United States ⓘ engineering disasters ⓘ floods in California ⓘ |
| cause |
design flaws
ⓘ
geological instability of dam foundation ⓘ inadequate engineering oversight ⓘ structural failure of St. Francis Dam ⓘ |
| country |
United States
ⓘ
linked to:
United States of America
|
| damage | widespread destruction along Santa Clara River Valley ⓘ |
| date |
1928-03-12
ⓘ
1928-03-13 ⓘ |
| deadliestFloodIn | history of California ⓘ |
| designedBy | William Mulholland ⓘ |
| distanceFloodTraveled | about 54 miles ⓘ |
| fatalities |
approximately 431
ⓘ
over 400 ⓘ |
| floodWaveReached | Pacific Ocean ⓘ |
| flowVolumeReleased | approximately 12.4 billion gallons of water ⓘ |
| historicalSignificance | turning point in U.S. dam safety policy ⓘ |
| immediateConsequence | resignation of William Mulholland from public service ⓘ |
| ledTo |
greater attention to geologic site investigations for dams
ⓘ
increased professionalization of civil engineering oversight ⓘ |
| location |
Los Angeles County, California
ⓘ
linked to:
Los Angeles County
San Francisquito Canyon ⓘ |
| mainSubject |
St. Francis Dam
ⓘ
linked to:
St. Francis Dam disaster
|
| memorial | St. Francis Dam Disaster National Memorial ⓘ |
| oneOfDeadliest | 20th-century U.S. civil engineering failures ⓘ |
| operatorOfFailedDam | Los Angeles Department of Water and Power ⓘ |
| partOf | history of Los Angeles water supply system ⓘ |
| precededBy | construction of St. Francis Dam (1924–1926) ⓘ |
| prompted |
changes in American dam engineering standards
ⓘ
creation of more rigorous state dam safety programs ⓘ reforms in dam safety regulation in California ⓘ |
| recognizedBy | United States Congress ⓘ |
| relatedTo | Los Angeles Aqueduct ⓘ |
| river | Santa Clara River ⓘ |
| state |
California
ⓘ
linked to:
California, United States
|
| timeOfDamFailure | 1928-03-12T23:57 ⓘ |
| timeToEmptyReservoir | about 70 minutes ⓘ |
| year | 1928 ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: St. Francis Dam disaster Description of subject: The St. Francis Dam disaster was a catastrophic 1928 dam failure in California that unleashed a deadly flood, killing hundreds and prompting major reforms in American dam engineering and water management.
Referenced by (3)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
linked to: St. Francis Dam disaster
linked to: St. Francis Dam disaster