Officials Fear Major Kentucky Dam Could Break

[Chelsea]

This directly affects me, since I live here:

Federal authorities began lowering the water level in Lake Cumberland yesterday, citing fears that a weakened Wolf Creek Dam could break, causing massive flooding and possibly deaths.


"A high level of risk does exist," Lt. Col. Steven J. Roemhildt, commander of the Nashville District of the Army Corps of Engineers, said in a statement.



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The corps announced that it would lower the lake's pool level by 10 feet to decrease pressure on the 240-foot-high dam, which is in Southern Kentucky's Russell County. The corps has begun working to correct a problem of water seepage through the dam's foundation.


The lake would remain at the new level -- 680 feet -- for at least a year and perhaps as long as seven years, a corps official said. That's 43 feet below the normal summer pool of 723 feet. The move will leave up to 90 percent of the lake's boat ramps out of the water and raise the lake's temperature, which could have a catastrophic effect on fishing for trout and other cold-water fish, state officials said.


"This could have a substantial economic impact on the area," Gov. Ernie Fletcher said at a news conference, adding that the lake attracts more than 4.7 million visitors annually.


He said the state estimates that in a four-county area alone -- Clinton (Seth note: Where I'm from) Wayne, Russell and Pulaski -- "the economic impact of tourism is about $152.6 million" annually.
But Fletcher said the safety of residents along the Cumberland River system downstream from the dam, which the corps puts in its highest-risk category, is the state's top concern. "Most important from our standpoint is that they (the Corps of Engineers) feel like it's an extreme high risk, and they are concerned about failure. The flooding that would occur from that can be catastrophic," he said.
Wilma Norris, 68, a secretary for the state Cabinet for Health and Family Services who lives downriver in Cumberland County, said residents of the area are concerned about the situation. "The main question on people's minds is how much advance warning would we have to evacuate if the dam did break," she said.


Joe Hughes, emergency management director for Cumberland County, said that "would depend on whether the dam goes all at once, or just a piece at a time. Either way we would see a lot of property damage and maybe some loss of life."


Bill Peoples, a spokesman for the corps' Nashville office, said failure of the dam was not imminent. But he said evacuation plans should be ready in Nashville and other downstream communities, including Burkesville in Kentucky and Celina, Carthage, Gallatin, Hendersonville and Clarksville in Tennessee.


Peoples said a 2005 corps study estimated that a dam failure would lead to a loss of 56 to 230 lives in the area downstream through Carthage. "But we feel good emergency notification procedures will greatly reduce those numbers," he said.


The study also concluded that the dam's failure would cause $3.4 billion in property damage -- most of that in Nashville, he said.


The study led to a repair plan that recently began with a process in which grout is pumped into the ground at the base of the dam to reduce erosion. About a year from now, Peoples said, the second phase will begin, involving the installation of a 4,000-foot-long wall to stop seepage within and under the dam.


While plans were being developed for that work last year, Peoples said the corps' national office identified Wolf Creek as one of the six highest-risk dams of the roughly 700 the corps oversees. The national office's finding was confirmed by an outside team of engineers, Peoples said, leading the corps to announce that the water level had to be lowered immediately.
While Fletcher said he hoped the water level could be increased in about a year, Peoples said only that the corps will re-evaluate the situation then.
In his statement, Roemhildt said the corps understands that the decision "will adversely impact many people, communities and businesses. … But we must take this emergency action to reduce risk to the public and to the dam itself."


The corps said it has worked with state and local officials to develop emergency notification plans. It added that it plans to hold a series of public meetings about the situation.




Lake Cumberland guide Tim Tarter said lowering the lake level to 680 feet probably would "eliminate 80 to 90 percent of the current lake access. But the marina owners will have to make arrangements so (customers) can get their boats in. They'll have to put in more gravel or extend their ramps or something."


He added: "At 680 (feet), there's still a lot of water there."

[Chelsea]

People around home have been in a panic all week, so I'm told. Especially in Burkesville (where my mother works). Some people in Burkesville - which would be the first town to go - are already packing up boxes and planning to move.

[Janice]

Wow Seth, that's serious. Where's everyone going? Stay safe and keep us posted.

[Chelsea]

Originally Posted by Janice

Wow Seth, that's serious. Where's everyone going? Stay safe and keep us posted.

I'm fine - both Bowling Green (where I normally am) and my hometown (Albany) are above the floodplain...it's part of the area between that would get flooded out if the dam blew.

As far as my hometown goes, I'm more worried about the economic impact to the town due to tourism losses, etc. Without Lake Cumberland, a lot of towns in Southern Kentucky and Northern Tennessee are going to have a lot of financial problems. And those are the ones, again, above the floodplain. The ones below wouldn't be so lucky.

That, and driving 45 miles northeast in order to drive another 90 miles west. (As opposed to just being able to drive 85 miles west now) doesn't sound appealing. I'd almost prefer in that instance to drive to TN, get on I-40 in Nashville, and come up I-65 - both drives would be rather long. (A flooding out would wipe out a decent stretch of the road I take to get from Albany to Bowling Green)

[EmoJoe]

oh wow, stay safe.

[Chelsea]

FWIW, the Army Corps of Engineers is trying to reassure people that the dam isn't just suddenly going to blow apart tomorrow - and their reducing the water level in the lake/reservoir by a good number of feet should lower pressure against the dam

[theshark8777]

We had a dam like that here in the late 80s. It didn't break, but they totally had to drain it to replace the dam.

[AB]

They did a segement on the news about that. I live in Clarksville which could
also be in the path of the flood waters but I don't live near the river, so I
think we're safe. There are alot of businesses and homes built near the river
as well as a nice park that could be damaged. Hope they get it fixed.

[Ravey]

Eek. I live in one of the areas mentioned. *_*

[Ravey]

Originally Posted by annball1957

They did a segement on the news about that. I live in Clarksville which could
also be in the path of the flood waters but I don't live near the river, so I
think we're safe. There are alot of businesses and homes built near the river
as well as a nice park that could be damaged. Hope they get it fixed.

Really? Ok good. *_* I was starting to freak.