Dam failure due to heavy rainfall in South Carolina

A dam located in Aiken County, South Carolina, burst after a long period of rainfall struck the surrounding area.

The incident occurred on Monday, December 23, 2019. According to Chris Rohrbach, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, the amount of precipitation the region received (about 77mm) before the collapse was “pretty uncommon this time of year”.

The dam, that was privately owned, was located at Wilson Pond. It gave way at about 2:00 pm local time and flooded the area near the Richardsons Lake Road. 

Water was released from a nearby small lake which was completely drained, according to reports.

Captain Eric Abdullah, Aiken County Sheriff’s Office spokesman, stated that no injuries associated with the incident have been reported, however, a residence near the dam was damaged as a result of intense flooding while 2 cars and a pontoon were swept away. 

William Lucas, who had been living in this house for around 2,5 years, came back from shopping for Christmas to witness the stunning incident. "I said 'Oh, God, look at the house.' We had to pull across the road and it was just flooded...all the way up to the top of the porch. It pushed my cars, my pontoon up against the trees," he stated.

Fortunately, the house was not significantly affected since it is slightly elevated. "It (the water) was probably about two feet (0.6 meters) inside the garage. Messed up the water heater, refrigerator, freezer, stuff like that," Lucas added.

Officials are closely monitoring another neighboring dam that has received too much water since the failure and could break. “The ground is so saturated, we’re not sure if it’s going to give way or if it’s going to hold. But there’s a lot of water that’s been dumped into this adjoining pond,” Abdullah stated.

Authorities evacuated 55 houses in the broader area as a precautionary measure while drivers were warned to avoid Wood Valley subdivision and Richardsons Lake Road.