CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Hundreds of North Carolina dams, including some upstream from Charlotte houses, still lack a plan that would provide crucial information to authorities in case of an emergency.
Channel 9 investigated dam safety -- and the emergency requirements -- since late 2015.
Reporter Blake Hanson requested an updated dam inventory from the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality earlier this month.
Bridget Munger, a spokeswoman for the department, said the agency received 705 emergency action plans as of Feb. 14. It was still waiting on plans from owners of 828 dams.
Dam owners are required to submit emergency action plans if the property is classified as “high-hazard” or “intermediate” in risk.
High-hazard means a failure would likely result in a loss of life or property. The deadline for those submissions was set for Dec. 31, 2015.
“Letters sent to dam owners following inspections now include language regarding the EAP requirement and staff is currently working on a new process to speed up the submittal of outstanding plans," Munger said. "In the interim, the public can be assured that if there were concerns with a dam, state officials would address the situation immediately to ensure the safety of downstream communities."
Munger did not elaborate on what that "new" process might be.
She told Channel 9 that an engineer could provide more information as early as Friday.
DEQ officials provided Channel 9 a dam inventory that was last updated in September 2016.
Among those who had submitted plans by that date are lakes and ponds in several Charlotte neighborhoods.
A dam at the lake inside the Davis Lake subdivision was on that list.
"When responders are called, like we talked about, what's going to happen," said Matt Turse. "What's the plan of action and how many people are in jeopardy of mass flooding when there's not really a plan."
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