The effects of bank crest width, slope steepness, soil properties, and soil compactness on the characteristics of levee breach due to overlfow were investigated through a series of experiments. Generally, the major factors influencing the breach phenomenon are compactness, soil properties. crest width, and slope steepness, in that order. Using proper soil, and ensuring enough compactness in bank construction are very essential for extending breach duration and reducing peak overflow ranges for the values of breach duration, breach width, width-to-depth ratio, and side slope of the breach section, proposed by Singh, MacDonald and Fread based on the field data for earth dam breaks were reasonable. We found that those criteria could also be applied to the phenomenon of levee breaching.