Abstract: The water damage in long-distance oil and gas pipelines in river sections is a kind of pipeline geological disaster with prominent hazard characteristics and is a common occurrence. Based on the gathered significant experiences in geological hazard survey and water damage protection engineering in Zhongxian-Wuhan Gas Pipeline and Lanzhou-Zhengzhou-Changsha Product Oil Pipeline, this paper summarizes and classifies the water damage accidents of pipelines in river sections. The scouring erosion of water flow in rivers and river channel swings are primary dynamic factors for water damage of pipeline in river sections, the disaster types include four classifications, that is, pipeline floating hazard, spanning hazard, pipeline traction and collision hazard. The research describes the formation condition and hazard characteristics of different types of water damages, and proposes engineering protective structures accordingly. The authors put forward concise structural diagrams and application conditions for various protective structures, to provide a reference to the safety protection for pipelines in river sections in construction and operation period.