A nice discussion of the engineering efforts to prevent spillway failure.
13:24 the spillway had drains to release any water inadvertently getting underneath the slabs, but these drains were carved into the underside of the slabs, making the slabs thinner, instead of being charged into the underlying rock. Cracks developed along the lines of each of these transverse drains, ultimately leading to slab failure.
14:34 missing from this spillway were several features to prevent slab uplift: reinforced concrete, flexible water stops between slabs, keyed joints (like tongue-and-groove) to prevent uplift, lateral cutoffs (outcroppings of concrete embedded into the underlying surface,) anchors adequate for the underlying material, and offset slabs to prevent protrusion of a slightly elevated downhill slab.
15:22 human error and inspection failures led to a "consequential chain of tribulations."
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