article_snippet: The flood occurred when the Dale Dyke Dam broke as the Dale Dyke Dam reservoir was being filled for the first time.
article_snippet: the Dale Dyke Dam sent 650million gallons of water cascading into central Sheffield while people were sleeping in people beds.
article_snippet: As a gale swept through Sheffield on the night of March 11, 1864, a water engineer was sheltering under the new dam when a water engineer noticed a crack.
article_snippet: Just before midnight the new dam burst, sending 650million gallons of water cascading into Sheffield in a disaster which killed 240 people in 240 people beds.
article_snippet: Great Sheffield Flood: the new dam burst, sending 650million gallons of water cascading into the town in a disaster which killed 240 people .
article_snippet: the new dam was built by the Sheffield Waterworks Company from 1859 to provide drinking water for the people of the fast-growing industrial town.
article_snippet: Diasastrous: the new dam was built by the Sheffield Waterworks Company from 1859 to provide drinking water for the people of the town .
article_snippet: the new dam was also designed to provide a supply of running water for the mills in surrounding villages.
article_snippet: But as the new dam was being completed and filled the structure collapsed, sending water cascading down the Loxley Valley - devastating farms and hamlets.