Those are 5' diameter spools in that picture, the "river" is 20+' wide.

In the other you can see the leaves making a dam along the fence. Each post has 10' spacing, it was about 70' wide of a "leaf dam".

I get water from two directions.

I was worried about an adequate drainage area to keep the pond filled...not now...

No outflow, it was dug in late Oct and only had about 2 feet of water in it. Filled up 5 feet in 15-20 minutes. It ended up within about 6" of full pool. It's gone down about a foot since the rain.

The property was logged and a lot of the debris was buried. I think I'm losing water into the "pits" that were dug (upstream) where the logs and stumps were buried some years ago.

It seems to fill then sink then fill some more and sink again but not as low as it was before. Like a two steps forward, one step back thing.

I have a pretty big (12") pipe and my dam is made so water can go over it on both sides with a very gradual slope on the back of the dam. 4:1 or 5:1 slope? What is the slope of a typical flat sloped house in the south? Like the older houses in Florida? It's about like that.

I DON'T want to see a rain like that with the pond full! Especially not until the grass gets well established...

Don't know of any dam failures, I'll have to look around today...