Editor’s observe: This story is a part of an evaluation of local weather and U.S. dam knowledge by USA TODAY community reporters, together with The Oklahoman’s Steve Lackmeyer. Thousands of dams pose a rising risk to close by communities because the local weather modifications. Nearly 3,000 have been flagged as being in poor or unsatisfactory condition, together with Oklahoma City’s Overholser dam and those in the story under.
More than 20 years have handed for the reason that Knight Lake dam was declared a “high hazard” that wanted rapid repairs to keep away from a possible flood that will harm close by flats and pose a risk to public security.
The dam in northwest Oklahoma City is one of seven in Oklahoma County listed as high hazards, however not like the opposite privately owned buildings, the Knight Lake dam has no person to say it. A USA TODAY community investigation reveals hundreds of dams are in want of restore and susceptible to more and more unstable climate patterns.
The Knight Lake dam’s condition was deemed to be poor all through the Nineteen Nineties, and information present homeowners on the time failed to answer repairs requested by the Oklahoma Water Resources Board. Since then, possession and accountability has been in authorized dispute.
More:Live close to a dam? It might be crumbling, threatening properties and lives as heavy rains improve
Zachary Hollandsworth, engineering director of the water sources board, sees no resolution anytime quickly even because the risk to a whole bunch of close by residents stays.
“The spillway is in very poor condition,” Hollandsworth stated. “It’s got insufficient flow capacity beyond just being damaged. There are trees and vegetation all along the downstream of the embankment.”
Other deficiencies recognized throughout inspections embrace seepage by means of the underside of the dam that has created a everlasting wetland; deep pedestrian and bike trails minimize into the face of the dam and a utility pole mounted on the dam’s shoulder; and bushes, bushes and different vegetation which are potential conduits for erosion.
Knight Lake is one in every of a number of our bodies of water dammed in the Sixties and Seventies because the Northwest Expressway hall was developed with hundreds of single-family properties and flats luring households to dwell in the Putnam City Public Schools district.
Two of these lakes, Regal and Pines East, even have dams listed as being “high hazard” buildings, however not like the Knight Lake dam, owners’ associations have taken accountability and are engaged on repairs.
Yet one other dam on the former Sportsman’s Club, now a senior residents middle owned by the Chickasaw Nation, is in the midst of being repaired by the tribe after being deemed a excessive hazard.
More:What occurs if a dam fails? An inside take a look at the Overholser dam’s nightmare state of affairs
“None of these are like Knight Lake,” Hollandsworth stated. “It’s an awkward situation. The actual ownership of the dam is dispute.”
Georgie Rasco, govt director of Neighborhood Alliance of Central Oklahoma, believes the dangers posed by privately owned dams make them too harmful to not be taken over by native authorities.
Beyond upkeep, neighborhood associations have been confronted with questions on how you can function dams. The Silver Lake neighborhood affiliation was sued by the household of D’angelo Williams after he drowned in floodwaters in 2020. The neighborhood is just not removed from Knight, Pines East and Regal lakes. The Silver Lake dam has been flooded a number of instances through the years with not less than as soon as occasion of a motorist needing to be rescued by firefighters.
More:More than 200 U.S. dams have failed in rain storms since 2000. See if your community is at risk
“It’s an absurdity that neighborhoods are saddled with maintaining dams that affect their own residents and also others downstream with flooding,” Rascoe stated. “This was a pizza delivery driver who drove over the dam and the neighborhood was responsible for putting up a sign when there was too much water. He went across it, got swept up in the water and died.”
Rascoe stated builders have been keen to construct dams and create lake facilities to entice homebuyers, and a survey of commercials for Knight Lake from the early Seventies described the area as a “fisherman’s paradise.”
Rascoe suggests Oklahoma City ought to take a look at different cities which have taken over upkeep and operation of personal dams.
“These neighborhoods cannot keep up,” Rascoe stated. “And if a dam breaches, it will flood neighborhoods within 14 hours. It’s an economic problem, but our city needs to wake up and address it.”
Rascoe additionally needs town to have a look at whether or not builders ought to be subjected to extra oversight after they select to dam up water for brand new neighborhoods.
“We cannot continue to add to the problem,” Rascoe stated. “There isn’t anyone to help you. There is no cavalry coming. You are on your own.”
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