Photos| Cheris Hodges
A second dam breach causes flooding
BENNETTSVILLE—Another dam breach leaves parts of the city underwater again.
Wednesday, following overnight rains, the city issued an alert. “There has been a breach at the northern section of Lake Wallace on Beauty Spot Road. Water levels are rising in the Richardson Park and Shady Rest communities. Residents should exercise extreme caution and evacuate low-lying areas. We ask that citizens stay away from these areas as emergency service personnel work to manage this developing issue.”
According to Bennettsville City Administrator William Simon Jr., S.C. DOT has temporarily closed portions of Beauty Spot Road, and engineers from the state will inspect the bridges impacted by the breach. Other roads were closed Wednesday as well because of water levels.
“On the other side of Beauty Spot Road, you have that other water body that feeds into the lake and it has a little dam that holds the water back and that washed out,” Simon said. “The bridge that’s on Beauty Spot Road is doing what it’s designed to do, it’s just that more water is flowing a little bit faster now.”
In May, the Richardson Park and Shady Rest neighborhoods were evacuated due to the threat of flooding when the Lake Paul Wallace dam was breached. Lake Wallace Dam is a high-hazard dam, and before the May breach, a routine inspection had been done on April 30.
The lake is controlled by three agencies: DHEC, S.C. Department of Natural Resources, and the Lake Paul Wallace authority.
SCDNR owns the lake, DHEC is in charge of inspecting the lake and the lake authority, which was created by state representatives controls the activities that occur at the lake.
Those same neighborhoods are impacted by ponding again, but Simon said Wednesday afternoon, that water hadn’t gotten into the first floors of homes in Shady Rest and Richardson Park. However, with more rain expected overnight, the city is monitoring the water levels. As of press time, there haven’t been any evacuation orders. But some streets were blocked because of the rising water levels and some were impassable, Simon said.