LUMBERPORT, W.Va. — A small Harrison County community could see a failure of a nearby dam, but the town’s Mayor said the actual danger of a potential flood would be limited.
Lumberport Mayor Rick Scott does not believe a catastrophic failure will occur, but said there are no longer any structures in the flood plain even if it does.
“There’s no immediate danger, or we don’t think there is, of a catastrophic failure,” he said. “There’s no water restrictions. Business is normal for the drinking water plant.”
Scott said drinking water is unaffected because the town no longer uses that reservoir where the dam is located, a silver lining after the spillway breached earlier this week.
“We believe that that spillway breached on Monday when they had the heavy rain,” he said. “It’s in a remote location, and our operators just didn’t notice it. It hasn’t lowered any more, didn’t do anything over night.”
Regardless of the real level of danger, state and local officials are still attempting to relieve the pressure at the dam, which is labeled “high hazard potential” — meaning it could potentially lead to fatalities if it completely failed.
“We have a couple of pumps running up there now,” Scott said. “We may or may not bring another pump in. We’re assessing that now. There’s a valve we’re trying to get open that hasn’t been opened in probably 30 years.”
Scott isn’t as concerned about the “high hazard potential” label though, saying that the structures that were once in that flood plain have long since been removed.
“There’s no reason to think it’ll have a total failure, but even if it does, I don’t think anybody would ever notice,” he said.
The Department of Environmental Protection, one local grating company, and other local officials from the nearby water plant are on scene.
The company is performing repairs on the road that leads to the dam, which Scott said is in serious disrepair.
“Right now everything seems to be safe, and the DEP is happy with what we’re doing,” he said. “We’re going to get some more of that water out of there and get that valve open. Then it’ll be a long-term fix. We’re going to have to figure out how we’re going to repair that, or if we’re going to (at all).”