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Lake Lure Dam 'remains stable' after flooding from Helene
“There are no ongoing concerns associated with dam failure,” town engineers said. Concerns over a possible forced downstream evacuations Friday.
RUTHERFORD COUNTY, N.C. â Days after fears of a dam failure at Lake Lure, town officials said Monday that the dam “remains stable.”
“The dam generally performed as intended and is stable,” engineers for the town of Lake Lure said. “Most of the arches overtopped, which they were designed to do during extreme floods, and the Emergency Action Plan (EAP) was subsequently activated out of an abundance of caution. The abutments did not overtop, and the concrete structure was not compromised.”
Dam engineers said there was some damage to the abutments and downstream areas, adding that plans are underway to repair those areas. The lake is being operated at a lower level until those repairs can be made.
“There are no ongoing concerns associated with dam failure,” town engineers said.
Excessive rain from Helene and its predecessor rain event threatened the dam Friday. Mandatory evacuations were issued for residents in low-lying, flood-prone areas below the dam such as the Cleghorn, Union, Green Hill communities as well as Harris and Cliffside.
Nine hours after those evacuations were first issued, emergency officials said the Lake Lure Dam was no longer at risk of imminent failure with no immediate threat.
On Monday, WCNC Weather Impact Chief Meteorologist Brad Panovich shared that the predecessor rain event is what laid the groundwork for Helene to push all the floodwaters over the top.
“There was no room for this water in the mountains, so we really started ramping up that this was gonna be an extreme or catastrophic event,” Panovich shared. “And even though we were ramping it up like that, it was still hard to visualize or for people to imagine that it could be that bad.”
Lake Lure officials said Monday that the lake level is approximately 985.5′. That is five feel below full pond levels (990.5′). Officials said they will give updates if the lake level needs to be further lowered.
Lake Lure, North Carolina is among the most decimated towns across the state. Debris covered the town with boats, docks, and tree trunks among the items scattered abroad.
Lake Lure is in Rutherford County about two hours west of Charlotte, North Carolina. It is a popular tourist attraction. The lake was first constructed in 1925 when the initial dam was built along the river. The lake was created to boost tourism and create a recreational waterway.
For those who want to help, WCNC Charlotte has partnered with the American Red Cross to help gather donations to go to efforts that will help people impacted by Helene and with the nonprofit Operation Airdrop to get much-needed supplies to the mountain counties. Here’s how you can help people impacted by Helene.