On October 9, 1963, one of the worst disasters in Italian history saw a mountain landslide overflow the world's highest hydroelectric dam. The resulting flood washed away several valley townships, killing 2,000 people. A forseeable accident, the seeds of tragedy were sewn in 1959 when the damn was constructed. Chief engineers Carlo Semenza and Nino Biadene, eager to secure the lucrative hydroelectricity contract, ignored reports that the design was unsafe. The project went into construction, earning a large sum for the companies involved. Four years later, 900 cubic meters of rock came down from Mount Toc provoking the lethal 750-foot wave.