Flooding Fears Unfounded

Dam failures at Oak Mountain State Park have been under discussion in the Pelham City Council, but Mayor Gary Waters emphasized that the city’s concern is still hypothetical.

“What I really need the public to know is that there has been no specific incident that has taken place that has caused us to perceive those dams at any higher risk than they were yesterday or the day before,” Waters said. “We haven’t had a failure, we haven’t had a near failure.”

At a June 2 council work session, Waters and Indian Springs Village Mayor Brenda Bell-Guercio showed the council five specific dams — four inside the park and one on nearby private property — that could cause flooding if a failure did occur. Depending on which dam failed, either Pelham or Indian Springs Village could be in the path of the flooding, as well as Oak Mountain Middle and Elementary Schools, Heardmont Park and Westminster School.

The mayors also noted that Alabama is the only state without a mandatory dam inspection program, making it harder to keep track of the dams’ condition. Bell-Guercio and District 43 Rep. Mary Sue McClurkin have both supported the institution of an inspection program, but Waters described it as “an uphill battle” to get such a law passed.

Waters and Bell-Guercio proposed an inundation study at the work session, and Waters said the idea received strong support from the council. An inundation study would provide an idea of what dam failure would look like: water depth and velocity, affected areas, damage estimates and possible loss of life. From this study, Pelham and Indian Springs Village can build an emergency action plan.

“You can only plan for what you know, and we don’t know what the downstream impact would be should one or all of those dams fail. That’s why I favor the inundation study,” Waters said. “That’s going to make my fire chief sleep better at night. That’s going to make the police chief sleep better.” 

The study still needs funding before it can go forward. It is estimated to cost between $25,000 and $30,000, of which Indian Springs Village has pledged $5,000. Pelham, Shelby County and the state all have some degree of responsibility over the dams, but it is uncertain how the remaining cost will be divided. Shelby County Manager Alex Dudchock said he has been discussing the study with the county’s emergency management agency and engineers to see if it can be done without hiring outside consultants. Dudchock said the county will be ready to be involved in the study this month, but did not know what the final expense would be.

“We’re working to define what our offering will be,” Dudchock said. “They [Indian Springs Village and Pelham] can count on the county.”

Officials at the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources declined to comment on possible involvement in the inundation study. Even without state help, Waters thinks the study is important enough to move forward and wants Pelham to foot its share of the bill.

“We have to assume responsibility,” Waters said. “We want to be a good partner, and I fully plan to challenge the Pelham City Council to fund our part — whatever it may be — of the inundation study because without the inundation study, there’s no development of an emergency action plan.”

This new attention on the potential flooding problem also caused Shelby County and Department of Conservation officials to clear away trees and other plants that could weaken the earthen dams.

Waters also suggested that Pelham should keep up with national standards and begin conducting its own mandatory inspections. With the help of a niece who works with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Waters has gathered information on how even an untrained person can seek out faults in a dam.

“Just on our own, in the absence of a mandatory dam inspection law, [we should] do at least an annual inspection of our dams. I’ll be glad to be a part of that, too,” Waters said.

However, Waters wanted Pelham residents to know that they are not in any immediate danger. While there have been assertions that the Oak Mountain dams could fail within a decade, Waters said these claims are “just not true” and are based on an unlikely, worst-case scenario.

“We’ve never had one of those dams fail. We’ve never had any of those dams that I know of even at risk of failing,” Waters said. “I don’t think we should panic. I think we should use this as an opportunity to educate ourselves.”

Terry Boyd, engineering section chief at the Department of Conservation, affirmed Waters’ statement. He said the dams have all been checked in the last six months and there is “zero” likelihood of a failure.

“None of those dams has anything that’s a safety problem,” Boyd said. “You could probably take a direct hit from a bomb and be fine.”