Hundreds evacuated from homes in Lynchburg over possible dam failure
- by Kim Reid
- in Global Media
- — Aug 4, 2018
The National Weather Service in Blacksburg has issued a Flash Flood Warning for The Blackwater Creek below College Lake Dam in Lynchburg until 3:15 am.
Heavy rain has caused College Lake Dam, around a mile from the city, to fill to near capacity.
"The worst case scenario if that dam does breach, officials are anxious it might, is that water would go surging downhill into Lynchburg and it could drown that city in 17 feet of water in about 7 minutes".
Authorities warn 5 meters of water could hit Lynchburg in Virginia in minutes if a dam overspills. "Once the water levels are lowered, then initial repairs can begin on the dam embankment and the roadway".
"Although water levels have decreased, the threat for dam failure continues", and emergency personnel will check for signs of structural failure, the weather service said Friday morning.
Local fire and police sent boats to rescue people to area shelters, including E.C.Glass High School and Sandusky Middle School.
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A flash flood watch is in effect in the area until 11 a.m.
"About 200yards down that hill is a dam, behind that dam is a reservoir, College Lake".
Lynchburg is located in the Blue Ridge Mountains, about 50 miles from Roanoke. The city owns the dam, but the university owns the lake.
The dam was built in the 1930s by the Virginia Department of Highways and is now listed among "high hazard dams" in need of fix in Virginia.
Turner Perrow, a member of the Lynchburg City Council who is also a civil engineer, tells NPR that the dam presents "a complicated problem". The dam has been under survey by the city for years as a safety hazard. More recent projections have placed the fix costs at $10 million. City officials posted pictures Thursday of rescuers using a raft to take families from a flood-threatened apartment complex as well as the partial collapse of one road into an adjacent creek.
