By Chuck Walker
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
LAKE SEMINOLE, Ga. – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Mobile District project, the Jim Woodruff Lock & Dam, suffered tree damage and is resolving power issues, but it survived the impact of Hurricane Michael as it battered the Florida Gulf Coast and South Georgia on Wednesday.
The Lock & Dam is doing basic spillway control, but it is not generating power as the transmission lines are down and it also has damage to the powerhouse roof.
But, when you consider the fact that the Lock & Dam suffered the brunt of Hurricane Michael, the USACE project is proud of the fact that it is up and running despite suffering an event many have compared to munitions detonations.
“Our people were describing the area that it looked like a bomb went off,” said Steven Hrabovsky, Chief of the Management Support Branch at USACE Mobile District. “If the rains would’ve been higher, it would’ve been more challenging. Despite the high, damaging winds, water flow was not an issue and we were still able to maintain and provide spillway control.”
For the time being, the project is only providing spillway control. The damage to the project and the surrounding area has prevented the project from making an assessment of the campsites affiliated with the project.
Hrabovsky said it was fortunate that Hurricane Michael was a fast-moving storm, notwithstanding the heavy damage.
“When the storm hit it was really hard to get access to the project,” Hrabovsky said. “The site manager said it took him six hours to get to work because of all the trees and debris on the road, and the road closures. But we are able to operate our spillway control.”