BAGHDAD—The top U.S. general in Iraq warned Thursday of the potential collapse of Mosul Dam in the country’s north, saying that such an event could prove “catastrophic.”
The U.S.-led coalition is still determining the likelihood the hydroelectric dam could collapse but has developed a contingency plan alongside the Iraqi government, U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Sean MacFarland said Thursday.
Built in the early 1980s, the dam is made largely of earth and situated on soft mineral foundations, which are easily dissolved by water. A report by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 2006 called Mosul Dam “the most dangerous dam in the world” because of its propensity to erode.
Since the ISIS group extended its territory across Iraq in the summer of 2014 maintenance teams have at times struggled to gain access to the site. In July 2014 ISIS seized the dam, but Iraqi forces and Kurdish fighters took back the structure with coalition air support within weeks.
The U.S.-led coalition and Iraqi forces have drafted plans to move civilians to safety should the dam collapse, Lt. Gen. MacFarland said, warning that “when it goes, it’s going to go fast and that’s bad.”
