Carter Lake Dam evacuation request lifted after water levels drop

**Hole Found in Polk County Dam Prompts Temporary Evacuations**

POLK COUNTY, Texas (KTRK) — Tucked away amidst trees and accessible by just a few dirt roads, Carter Lake is held back by the 21-foot deep Hardwood Pond Dam. This relatively small and secluded body of water was thrust into the spotlight on Saturday when the Polk County Office of Emergency Management announced the discovery of an 8-inch hole in the dam.

In response to the damage, local authorities advised 20-30 households nearby to evacuate as a precautionary measure.

“The property owners speculate there may be some beaver activity where they tried to burrow into the embankment of the dam,” said Polk County OEM Director Courtney Comstock. It was a neighbor who initially alerted the property owners about the damage.

According to online records from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) for the dam safety program, WT Carter and Bros, a lumber company, is listed as the dam’s owner. ABC13 has reached out to the company to confirm ownership and is awaiting a response.

The National Inventory of Dams shows that the last inspection of the 125-year-old dam occurred nearly 45 years ago, in 1980. The TCEQ confirmed that this is the most recent inspection it has on record. The agency explained that it does not require routine inspections of the Hardwood Pond Dam due to its small size and classifies it as a low hazard.

University of Houston civil and environmental engineering professor Hongyi Li weighed in on the situation, noting that it is not unusual for old, earthen dams to sustain damage over time.

“Whenever you have high water pressure behind a dam, when you have ponded water, you have higher pressure than you should. This pressure will push the water and squeeze it through the dam; that spillage water can lead to larger and larger holes,” Li explained.

The National Inventory of Dams indicates that if this dam were to fail, the impact on life and economic resources would be low. However, Professor Li warns that even small dam failures can be dangerous.

“The small dams, they are small, but the failure could still be catastrophic. Compared to natural rivers, the flood from the failure of a small dam could hit in a few minutes, at most a couple of hours,” he said.

On Monday afternoon, Polk County Emergency Management, in collaboration with TCEQ, lifted the recommended evacuation after reporting that the lake level had been lowered below the damaged area. Emergency management officials confirmed that the private owner will work with a private engineer to complete repairs to the dam.
https://abc13.com/post/carter-lake-dam-evacuation-request-lifted-water-levels-drop/18140357/

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