Carter Lake Dam evacuation request lifted after water levels drop

POLK COUNTY, Texas (KTRK) -- Surrounded by trees and just a few dirt roads, Carter Lake is held in by the 21-foot deep Hardwood Pond Dam.

Tucked away from public view, this small body of water was launched into the spotlight Saturday, when the Polk County office of emergency management announced the discovery of an 8-inch hole in the dam, leading local authorities to suggest that 20-30 households evacuate.

"The owners, the property owners speculate there may be some beaver activity where they tried to burrow into the embankment of the dam," Polk County OEM Director Courtney Comstock said

It was a neighbor who alerted the property owners about the damage.

Online records from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality for the dam safety program list WT Carter and Bros, a lumber company, as the owner. ABC13 has reached out to the company to confirm it is the owner, and we're waiting to hear back.

Records ABC13 found in the National Inventory of Dams list the last inspection on the 125-year-old dam was almost 45 years ago, in 1980.

ABC13 contacted the TCEQ, which confirmed that the 1980 inspection was the last one it has record of. The agency stated that it does not require routine inspections of the Carter Lake dam due to its size and considers it a low hazard.

University of Houston civil and environmental engineering professor, Hongyi Li, said it's not unusual for old, earthen dams to eventually sustain damage.

"Whenever you have high water pressure behind a dam, when you have ponded water, you have higher pressure than you should. This pressure will push the water and squeeze it through the dam, that spillage water can lead to larger and larger holes," Li said.

The National Inventory of Dams said that if this dam does fail, it would have a low impact on life and economic resources, though Professor Li says even a small dam failure can be deadly.

"The small dams, they are small, but the failure could still be catastrophic, and compared to natural rivers, the flood from the failure of a small dam could hit in a few minutes, at most a couple of hours," Li said.

Polk County Emergency Management, alongside TCEQ, lifted the suggested evacuation on Monday afternoon, reporting that the lake level had been lowered below the damage.

Emergency management said the private owner will work with a private engineer to complete the fix.

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