BEECH MOUNTAIN — Two years after Hurricane Helene damaged its spillway and emergency drain, Beech Mountain’s Buckeye Lake Dam is vulnerable to a sudden downpour, and Town Manager Bob Pudney warns that if the dam fails, there’s “a great possibility of loss of life” downstream.
Debris from Hurricane Helene — mostly dirt and rocks that washed down the mountain — cost Buckeye Lake, the town’s only water supply, about 40% of its capacity. It also damaged the water plant’s intake, and, most importantly according to Pudney, buried the emergency drain’s valve under an estimated 12 to 15 feet of debris.
“If for some reason we receive a lot of water that we can’t handle, and the dam becomes overtopped or fails, there’s a great possibility of loss of life and property downstream,” Pudney said.
The town has an emergency action plan that has benchmarks for potential dam failure, including the height of the water, the amount of rain that the area is receiving, the overtopping of the dam and how much water is actually being released downstream.
