Oftentimes, the most important words after a disaster are those you didn’t have to use such as death/injuries, starting over, rebuilding, and others. That’s where the protection of Oklahoma’s network of 2,107 flood control dams and voluntary conservation practices once again shined.
Oftentimes, the most important words after a disaster are those you didn’t have to use such as death/injuries, starting over, rebuilding, and others.
That’s where the protection of Oklahoma’s network of 2,107 flood control dams and voluntary conservation practices once again shined. The presence of 50 such dams prevented an estimated $2 million in flood damages just from the May 4-6 storms according to the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) State Office.
Chris Stoner, Oklahoma NRCS State Conservation Engineer said, “Some areas got hit very hard and field crews were hampered in inspecting some of the dams by high water and washedout roads. However, the reports to date show very little damage to the dams or spillways.”
“Dam Safety Awareness Day” is recognized on May 31 annually in memory of the 2,220 people who lost their lives in the 1889 South Fork Dam failure near Johnstown, Penn. However, Oklahomans have a year-round respect for the upstream flood control dams.
“Sudden intense rainfall events hit Oklahoma every year,” Trey Lam, Executive Director of the Oklahoma Conservation Commission (OCC), said. “For over six decades, Small Flood Control dams have successfully held back flood waters, preventing loss of property and lives.”
Lam stressed “conservation Districts and USDA/NRCS partners are the front line in keeping these dams working correctly. The Oklahoma Conservation Commission remains dedicated to extending the benefits of the flood control dams for decades to come.”
This May, some of the hardest working dam clusters received over 8.5 inches of rain during this three-day period, according to the Oklahoma Mesonet weather network:
Cane Creek in Okmulgee and Muskogee counties had 21 dams that prevented $908,000 in infrastructure damage.
Okfuskee Tribs Watershed in Okfuskee and Okmulgee counties included 29 dams that prevented $1,038,000 in infrastructure damage.
Some local landowners in the area reported more than 14” in the threeday span.
The 2,107 flood control dams constructed by local conservation districts with the assistance of the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, provided almost $6 million in benefits during this 3-day period. These benefits were the damage to crops, roads, bridges, houses and other property that would have occurred had the dams and associated conservation practices not been constructed.
Forty-six DamWatch alerts were issued during this span indicating impending auxiliary spillway flows. DamWatch is an excellent web-based tool to obtain real-time rainfall data and provides a means for communicating real time information on specific dams to those responsible for the dams.
NRCS and conservation district staff were in the field reviewing the performance of the dams and identifying potential issues during and soon after the storms.
Reports verified that 44 auxiliary spillways had flowed and six dams actually overtopped during this storm event. Interestingly, Stoner noted, “For all but two of the sites, this was the first time they ever flowed through their auxiliary spillways.”
Several NRCS and OCC personnel as well as Conservation District personnel gathered information and/or contributed to the reports regarding these storms.
“Oklahoma legislators have stepped up to provide significant funding through appropriations and bond proceeds for repair and maintenance on flood control dams,” Lam said. “From Okmulgee to Elk City, our citizens benefit every day from current and past policy makers prioritizing flood prevention. As we potentially enter a summer drought, flood control structures provide critical water resources. Plus, history has repeatedly demonstrated Oklahoma droughts only end in devastating floods.”