Le vie di Stava - Le vie della pietra (Stava's stone ways)

To remember: https://www.stava1985.it/

The disastrous Stava Valley failure on 19 July 1985 is one of the worst catastrophes worldwide resulting from the collapse of tailings dams serving mines. With its toll of 268 lives lost and more than 133 million Euros in damage, it is one of the worst industrial catastrophes ever to occur in Italy.

At 12h 22′ 55″ on 19th July 1985 the dam of the upper basin failed and collapsed onto the lower basin, which also failed.

The mudflow composed of sand, slime and water moved downhill at a velocity approaching 90 km/h, killing people and destroying trees, buildings and everything in its path, until it reached the River Avisio. Few of those hit by this wave of destruction survived.

Along its path, the mudflow killed 268 people and completely destroyed 3 hotels, 53 homes, and 6 industrial buildings; 8 bridges were demolished and 9 buildings were seriously damaged.

A layer of mud measuring between 20 and 40 centimetres in thickness covered an overall 435,000 square metres over 4.2 kilometres.

Approximately 180,000 cubic metres of material poured out of the tailings dams. A further 40,000-50,000 cubic metres came from erosion, buildings demolished by the flow and hundreds of uprooted trees.

Source: https://www.stava1985.it/