HINTON, W.Va. — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has “essentially” closed Bluestone Lake in Summers County as water continues to rise because of flooding on the New River following heavy rain last weekend in Virginia.
The Army Corps is projecting the high water will push Bluestone Lake about 42 feet above normal summer pool before cresting, Bluestone Operations Division Resource Manager Dean Bonifacio told MetroNews Tuesday afternoon.
“There are no homes around the lake but the lake is essentially closed at this point because our access points are closed,” Bonifacio said. “What we call the pit area, our normal access points, the Bluestone State Park area, it’s inundated so people could not launch their boats at this time.”
The high water has also impacted the Bluestone Marina and the Summers County campgrounds up the New River, Bonifacio said.
“We’re probably going to be affecting them with this high water probably for another week. By that point we’ll be getting back down and hopefully getting back to normal,” he said.
The Corps has the Bluestone Dam’s 16 sluice gates fully open discharging 44,000 cubic feet of water per second. Engineers are watching the gauge at Hinton and will close some of the gates if it gets too high.
“We’re lucky on this flood. This high water did not affect the Greenbrier River. Presently it’s only two feet above normal at Alderson. We’re monitoring everything downstream and right now it’s in good shape,” Bonifacio said.
The high water has also produced a lot of debris. Bonifacio they are picking out some of the larger items, like appliances, before they move through the dam. He says other debris is being allowed to pass through.