Photo By Sgt. Scott Tynes | Mississippi Army National guardsmen with the 890th Engineer Battalion and attached...... read more read more
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McCOMB, Miss. – Only hours after the passage of Hurricane Isaac, Mississippi Army National Guard engineers have responded to an urgent request from Pike County officials to assist in repairs of the Percy Quinn Lake levee, which is in danger of being breached and threatens homes in the area and downstream.
“The goal is to build an emergency spillway to relieve pressure on this dam,” said Col. Amos P. Parker, Miss. National Guard liaison officer for Pike County. “We can open this up and have a controlled open flow of the water so that we don’t create a flooding issue downstream from here.”
Downstream from the 700-acre lake in McComb are homes and businesses. Flooding would also effect traffic on nearby Interstate 55, a vital evacuation and relief north and south artery for traffic as rising waters caused by the hurricane continue to flood Louisiana parishes across the state line.
The high amount of rainfall received locally and in areas north of the lake from Isaac caused seepage underneath the dam. The seepage weakened the banks and the bank has begun to slough off, said Maj. Ronnie Spiers, executive officer of the 890th Engineer Battalion.
A damaged overflow gate on the dam is further aggravating the situation, Spiers said.
“The emergency overflow is damaged and it’s not operating correctly, so there’s not enough water being released from the lake,” he said.
The 890th and elements of several engineering companies are working 24-hour shifts and coordinating with the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality, Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks, Mississippi Department of Transportation and other agencies in addressing the threat.
“We’ve got a lot of dirt to move. We’re trying to clear the trees out in approximately a 150-foot wide area that we’re going to be taking down about 25-feet deep and then the excavation [of the spillway] is about 300 feet,” Spiers said. “The project will take about a week to complete.”
The Guard is providing soldiers and digging equipment and MDOT is using their trucks to remove the trees and dirt from the site, said Albert White, district engineer for MDOT’s District 7.
“It makes it easier and cheaper,” he said.
Sgt. William Rickels, a Baton Rouge, La., native with the 251st Engineer Company of Lumberton attached to the 890th, said he was glad to be helping in the project because he has been in similar circumstances.
“Being from south Louisiana and a Guard member for 13 years, I’m well aware of the impact that missions like this have on the locals,” he said. “They’re not my neighbors, but I’m completely empathetic with the feelings and concerns they have right now.”
| Date Taken: | 08.30.2012 |
| Date Posted: | 08.31.2012 13:20 |
| Story ID: | 94099 |
| Location: | MCCOMB, MS, US |
| Web Views: | 503 |
| Downloads: | 2 |
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