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A6 U.S. NEWS
Saturday 22 February 2020
Hundreds of dams lack emergency plans in rain-soaked South

By DAVID A. LIEB, MICHELLE In many cases, "the dam
MINKOFF and SUDHIN doesn't generate money,
THANAWALA so any money going to-
Associated Press wards a fine is money going
When recent heavy rains away from fixing a dam,"
swelled a private Mississippi Woosley said.
lake and began eroding its North Carolina in 2014 be-
earthen dam, Yazoo Coun- gan requiring all dams
ty Emergency Manage- designated as high- or
ment Director Jack Willing- intermediate-hazard to
ham was scrambling for a have emergency action
plan. plans. Since January 2019,
He had no contact infor- the state has received 183
mation for any of the hom- new emergency plans from
eowners who might need dam owners. But 543 of the
to evacuate, so he drove 1,272 high-hazard dams
to the scene and began under the jurisdiction of the
knocking on doors. state Department of Envi-
"I was just fortunate that this ronmental Quality still lack
was a small area and I was emergency plans, as do
able to do it on my own, 181 of the 247 intermediate
door-to-door, grunt work," hazard dams, department
Willingham said. spokesman Rob Johnson
The dam just north of the In this Feb. 11, 2020, file, aerial drone photo provided by the Mississippi Emergency Manage- said.
state capital of Jackson ment Agency shows a potential dam/levee failure in the Springridge Place subdivision in Yazoo The department "is com-
— known as MS04462 in a County, Miss. mitted to bringing all dams
state database — had no Associated Press into compliance with the
official hazard rating, no law," he said. But he said
record of state inspections dam, and especially those ply to dams whose failure Vermont and Wyoming. the "dam safety program
and no formal emergency that are considered high- could damage multiple Even in states that require is under-staffed and un-
action plan mapping out hazard potential, have an roads or public utilities but emergency plans, the AP der-resourced," with nearly
the expected flood zone, emergency action plan," are unlikely to kill people. review shows some dams 18 full-time employees to
whom to contact and said Mark Ogden, a former The Yazoo County dam still lack them. That's be- keep track of nearly 6,000
whom to evacuate were it Ohio dam safety official that developed problems cause many dams are pri- dams in the state.
to fail. It's one of more than who now is a technical spe- during the recent rain vately owned, and state That's still significantly more
1,000 dams in Mississippi cialist with the Association storms had not received a agencies have limited staff than is available in
that remain unclassified of State Dam Safety Offi- hazard rating because of a powers to force owners to Mississippi. The dam safety
because of a backlog of cials. backlog at the state regu- hire professionals to de- program there is autho-
work for state regulators. Emergency action plans latory agency. It was one of velop the plans, which can rized to have seven people
An Associated Press re- can be useful for local gov- several thousand previous- cost thousands of dollars. but currently has just three
view also found hundreds ernment officials, emergen- ly unregulated dams that "Funding is probably the because of vacancies,
of other dams lacking offi- cy personnel responding to came to the attention of biggest issue," said Ogden, McKercher said. The of-
cial emergency plans that a disaster and people who the Mississippi Department of the dam safety associa- fice is redirecting some of
are located dangerously live in valleys downstream of Environmental Quality tion. "Given the size of the the unused money for staff
close to homes in South- from dams. during a 2016 survey of aer- dam and complexity of salaries to hire contractors
eastern states that have The emergency plan for Mis- ial images and geographic what could be inundated to complete emergency
been swamped by heavy sissippi's Oktibbeha County information system data, downstream, it can require action plans for dams in
rains and severe flooding Lake Dam, which partially said William McKercher, significant investment in en- defunct or underfunded
in recent weeks. The AP collapsed in a mudslide last chief of the Dam Safety Di- gineering to do the model- watershed districts, he said.
focused on high-hazard month, lists the addresses vision. ing to determine what ar- Had the dam in Yazoo
dams — a rating deter- and names of more than The survey doubled the eas would be impacted." County's Springridge Place
mined by federal or state 100 property owners in the dams in the state's inven- In Georgia, state officials subdivision been previously
regulators that means the Starkville area who could tory from about 3,400 to updated rules for emer- inspected, officials might
loss of human life is likely if be subject to evacuation 6,800, he said. Several gency action plans in 2016 have noticed the clogged
a dam fails. if the dam fails. The plan in- years later, his office is still to make it clear that dam spillway pipes that caused
The AP review identified cludes color maps showing working to establish hazard owners had to complete water to flow over the top
578 high-hazard dams the potential inundation levels for each dam, which them, said Tom Woosley, of the dam on Feb. 11 and
regulated by state or fed- area and lists roads that would determine whether manager of the state's Safe wash away part of its em-
eral agencies that lacked would need to be closed. formal emergency plans Dams Program. Since then, bankment. And had an
emergency action plans in It also describes specific and regular inspections are the number of high-haz- emergency action plan ex-
North Carolina as of sum- steps to be taken depend- required. ard dams with emergency isted for the dam, it could
mer 2018. It found 259 such ing on the type of problem Emergency action plans plans has steadily risen, al- have saved considerable
dams in Georgia, 111 in at the dam, with the phone are mandated for all high- though some private dam stress for local emergency
Mississippi and 101 in South numbers of various local hazard dams by 43 states owners still aren't comply- officials.
Carolina. Though the spe- and state emergency per- and Puerto Rico, accord- ing. "If we had a plan in place
cific numbers may have sonnel who should be noti- ing to a survey by the U.S. Dam owners who shirk re- that said hey, here's the
changed since then (Mis- fied. Army Corps of Engineers. quirements to develop problem, here's the num-
sissippi now has 106 high- Mississippi requires emer- The exceptions include emergency plans could bers we need to call, we
hazard dams without emer- gency action plans for all Alabama, the only state face fines in Georgia, but can go step-by-step and I
gency plans), the general high-hazard dams, as well without a dam regulatory Woosley said he can't re- could have done it without
problem has not. as for some with significant office, along with Florida, call that actually happen- even being out there," Will-
"It's important that every hazard ratings, which ap- Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, ing. ingham said.q