By COLLIN BREAUX
Repairs will be made to a leak in the Dogwood Lakes dam.
The leak was discovered and assessed on site by several parties, including the Holmes County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC).
County Administrator David Corbin addressed the matter during an April 2 BOCC meeting.
“A resident heard water running through the pipe and y’all made me the reservoir dam administrator, so we got an emergency action plan with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and Emergency Management, so we got a protocol we got to go through to protect the people downstream,” Corbin said. “We jumped into our emergency action plan, made the correct calls to the correct people, and by 9 o’clock DEP and water management had inspectors on site.”
The extent of damage was unknown since the site is underwater. Water is leaking into the pipe. Emergency Management said they are taking all necessary precautions to protect residents and wildlife and there is no immediate danger.
One of the county’s engineers said the best case is to lower the water level, while another option is to find someone to put a camera down there.
The BOCC voted to have Alday-Howell Engineering work on the project, continent on them having the means.
“We got to react,” Corbin said. “We need to get an engineer or whoever y’all want.”
Garett Valcourt