KY/TN: Lake Cumberland Dam Shaky......

[Miss Mary]

FYI - this story was news to me! Doesn't impact my area but I know we have members from the TN/KY region........

http://news.cincypost.com/apps/pbcs.dll ... /701230350

Cumberland dam shaky
Catastrophic flooding feared

By Roger Alford
Associated Press

CHARLES BERTRAM/Lexington Herald-Leader

Some engineers fear the Wolf Creek Dam in Jamestown, Ky., could break, leading to catastrophic flooding.

Fearing a dam break that could cause catastrophic flooding in Kentucky and Tennessee, the Army Corps of Engineers began lowering the water level in Lake Cumberland Monday.

The measure was aimed at reducing pressure on the weakened 240-foot-high dam, said Lt. Col. Steven J. Roemhildt, commander of the corps' Nashville office.

"We must take this emergency action to reduce risk to the public and to the dam itself," he said in a statement.

If the dam, which is nearly a mile long, were to break, flooding in communities downstream along the Cumberland River could kill people and cause an estimated $3.4 billion in damage, Roemhildt said. Cities along the Cumberland include Nashville, Tenn., whose metro area contains 1.4 million people.

Corps spokesman Bill Peoples said failure of the dam was not imminent. But he said people should have evacuation plans ready in Nashville and other downstream communities, including Burkesville in Kentucky and Celina, Carthage, Clarksville, Gallatin and Hendersonville in Tennessee.

Jean Smith hopes that drawing water down from Lake Cumberland won't hurt the businesses around the impoundment.

"We have met some truly good people in that area, and they depend on our business to survive," said Smith, a Cold Spring resident who has a houseboat on the lake.

Everyone with investments in the lake hopes the Corps of Engineers can fix the dam, which is being undermined by water seeping under it, as soon as possible, she said.

"I am willing to put up with low lake levels, and I believe most boaters would be willing to deal with this to get this problem fixed," she said.

Steve Jones, director of the Montgomery County Emergency Management Agency in Clarksville, said he is helping to draft evacuation plans for local residents just in case. He said a dam break could have a devastating impact on people, livestock and crops in the heavily agricultural area around Clarksville.

"Any time I get a heads-up on something like that, I plan for the worst and then hope for the best," Jones said.

In Nashville, officials said they have an emergency plan that would be put into effect if a dam break caused flooding. Scott Harris, the city's acting deputy emergency management director, said the potential impact on Nashville, which includes a metro area of about 1.4 million people, would be minimized once the water level is lowered.

The dam, which has a concrete core surrounded by earth, was built near Jamestown in the early 1950s. The lake it holds back was created as part of a federal plan to control floods along the Ohio and Mississippi rivers.

Roemhildt said water has been seeping under the dam and eroding the limestone on which the concrete rests. He said crews were pumping grout into the ground to counter the erosion.

Reducing the water level could have a major ecological and economic effect as well. Roemhildt said people can expect fish kills because of a rise in water temperature, and boats at marinas could be left high and dry.

Lake Cumberland, one of the nation's largest freshwater reservoirs, is a popular destination spot for boaters from Kentucky and neighboring states. A thriving houseboat industry has sprung up in Somerset and other towns around the lake, which has more than 1,000 miles of shoreline.

Kentucky Commerce Secretary George Ward said as many as 90 percent of the launching ramps will be unusable because they won't reach the water's surface.

At Alligator Dock No. 1, a marina near Russell Springs, workers spent Monday moving million-dollar houseboats to moorings where they can stay afloat after the water recedes.

"We're kind of at a loss," said Estelee Slusser, who operates the marina with her husband. "It has just happened so quickly. We really don't know what to do."

The Army Corps notified local officials and business owners before making the plan public Monday. Slusser said she learned of the plan to lower the water level on Friday.

"We spent the whole day yesterday on the phone with customers, trying to calm them down," she said.

Post staff reporter Kevin Eigelbach and Associated Press writer Dylan T. Lovan contributed to this story.

[conestogo_flood]

When could it break? Today? Tomorrow? Next Week?

[breeze]

I'm nowhere near the Cumberland River, Miss Mary, but it cuts through downtown
Nashville, as your story pointed out!

~Annette~