A watershed dam built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to control drainage is close to failing, threatening the town of Little Rock, Newton County E911 Director Brian Taylor told the Board of Supervisors Monday.
“MDEQ (Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality) wants you to know you have an Emergency Action Plan,” he told the board.
The county has Emergency Action Plans for a wide variety of scenarios including natural disasters, train derailments and dam failures, Taylor explained. These plans detail evacuation routes, emergency response and outline the duties of first responders and county officials.
“It basically says which doors we’ll be knocking on to make sure people are OK,” he said.
Chunky River Dam No. 8, located several miles north of Little Rock on Parkers Branch of the Chunky River is nearing failure, Taylor said. With that danger, MDEQ wanted written acknowledgement from first responders and the county that copies of the plan had been received.
“They aren’t going to fix it?” Board President Charles Godwin asked.
Supervisor Joe Alexander said should the dam fail, the town of Little Rock would be decimated.
“When that goes, Little Rock is gone,” he said. “Not underwater, gone.”
Unfortunately, Taylor said, there is no money to fix the dam. He said he spoke with Pat Harrison Waterway; the Corps of Engineers and Mississippi Emergency Management Agency requesting funds and was denied by each one.
“When the Corps of Engineers built these, they did it on private property with the understanding the landowner would be responsible for keeping it maintained,” he said.
Despite the risk, Taylor said the agencies he has contacted have not been willing to provide funding. Since the dam is on private property, he said, the landowner, not the state will have to foot the bill.
Although no funds are available, Taylor said the landowner has been cooperating with Newton County EMA. After removing a beaver dam from the dam’s spillway, the water was slowly being released, he said.
By releasing some of the water, Taylor said he hopes to reduce the strain on the weakened dam and avoid it failing until funding can be found or the landowner can perform repairs.
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