Hundreds of West Virginia evacuees return home after concern about dam is eased

HAMLIN, W.Va. — Hundreds of evacuees were allowed to return home Monday after officials determined that an unstable earthen dam was no longer in danger of bursting.

Crews had worked to pump thousands of gallons of water from the lake formed by the privately built dam.

"We have been able to lower the level of water by 6 feet overnight with these high volume pumps," said Lincoln County Emergency Services Director Allen Holder. However, he said, "there is still a problem there" and crews planned to continue running the pumps to continue lowering the lake.

Authorities had ordered about 1,000 people living downstream from Lee's Fishing Lake to leave their homes late Sunday after heavy rainfall from the nor'easter that swept up the East Coast.

Mayor Brian Barrett had said that if the dam collapsed it could send millions of gallons of water into the Lincoln County community. The dam is on Mahoney Creek, a tributary of the Mud River, which flows through the town.

The dam was built in 1963, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' National Inventory of Dams, which said the 211-foot-long structure had a high potential for hazard downstream.

The state Department of Environmental Protection was trying to determine how to safely breach the dam, spokeswoman Jessica Greathouse said. Until Sunday, the agency had thought the reservoir had been drained, she said.

Holder said the lake's owner is dead and he wasn't sure who had inherited it. At one time it was a pay-to-fish lake but "it hadn't been in operation for that capacity for quite some time," he said.

Up to 2.5 inches of rain fell during the weekend, causing widespread flooding in southern West Virginia. Some residents were evacuated from flooded areas of Logan and Mingo counties, where at least 560 homes and businesses were damaged, said Celeste Hinzman, a spokeswoman for the state Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.

Gov. Joe Manchin toured Logan and Boone counties Monday morning. He issued an emergency disaster declaration late Sunday, allowing him to call in the National Guard if necessary.

Schools were closed in several southern West Virginia counties because flooding blocked numerous roads.

Emergency officials reported rescues and evacuations Sunday in Boone, Greenbrier, Logan, Mingo and Wyoming counties. At least two people were injured and two others were unaccounted for.