Crews continued to work on the dam at Entergy’s Lewis Creek power plant cooling lake. With the continued rain and the water being held back the dam has weakened. In addition the saturation of the earthen dam has caused some places to weaken even more. Crews are bringing rock and dirt in to fortify the dam. In the areas that have already shown signs of weakness, they have covered with plastic in an attempt to stop the ground from becoming more saturated by rainfall.
A joint press release came out minutes ago outlining the situation:
The dam surrounding the reservoir at the Lewis Creek Power Station near Willis continues to hold with no seepage or breaches. Workers are continuing to make repairs to areas where persistent heavy rains have caused the dam’s soil to become saturated to the point of sloughing off. According to San Jacinto River Authority, the issues concerning Entergy’s dam will have no impact on the Lake Conroe Dam. Montgomery County, however, will be sending first responders to give notifications to specific neighborhoods that fall within an area of concern (see attached map) related to the ongoing repair work to the Entergy Lewis Creek Dam. Those neighborhoods are: Pelican Bay, Lakeside Place, Point Aquarius, Lake Conroe Hills, Walnut Cove, Lake Conroe Bay, Shadow Bay, Country Run, Enchanted Waters, and Bishop’s Landing. Entergy Texas, Inc. officials note that a dam failure remains only a possibility. But the company has committed to take every possible step to prevent failure. Additional workers have been brought in to make repairs. Continued rainfall is the greatest threat to completing repairs. To address the potential for rainfall this weekend and into next week, more than eight acres of protective covering is being installed to shield affected areas of the dam. Steps are also underway with the addition of berms, including one of crushed concrete and lime which, when added to the toe of the levee, will stabilize the soils and prevent further slides. The reservoir level continues to be lowered to ease pressure on the dam and it is being monitored by geotechnical engineers who are on site around the clock. At this time, Entergy is reducing the water level of the lake to reduce the stress being applied to the dam. Entergy repair crews are also taking measures to prevent further dam deterioration. Emergency Management, Law Enforcement, Fire, and EMS met with Entergy officials this morning to discuss planning and response efforts that may be necessary pending any further deterioration of the dam. We encourage all citizens of Montgomery County to sign up for Code Red Emergency Alerts in order to receive all County emergency notifications. Citizens can sign up for Code Red by visiting our website www.mctxoem.org and clicking on the code red icon. Press releases and status updates can be found at www.mctxoem.org or www.entergytexas.com. Entergy will open a customer information center at 08:00 a.m. tomorrow at the North Montgomery Community center: 600 Gerald Street Willis 77378. A representative will be on hand to meet with customers who need further information. For general information please call The United Way 211 call center or 713-957-4357.
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