Officials keeping eye on Boonville Dam

Officials in Boonville are keeping a very close on a dam possibly threatening a local business. Water went over Lake Ferrell’s dam on Friday. It’s on Logan’s Lake Road north of Interstate 70 before downtown. Officials are worried because they’re not sure how much water the lake can hold before spilling out again.

The biggest concern they have right now is there was damage done to the emergency spillway. They say if more rains cause water to come over the top again, that damage could affect the dam itself.

Water has been pouring out of the lake all day long. Boonville leaders tell ABC 17 News when they see that, nothing good can come of it. They know there’s damage, but what they don’t know how much more water the lake can hold.

“The volume of water was such that the erosion controls material, or the rock that was in that emergency spillway was actually moved and it caused some scour holes,” Boonville Public Works Director M.L. Cauthon explains.

Officials are worried the erosion is going to spread all the way to the dam. If that were to happen, there is potential for the dam to give way. There aren’t many people or buildings that would be in the way of the waters. City leaders tell us there are a street, house, and a sanitary station that would be impacted.

Fortunately, the lake has had hours throughout the day to get the overflow water drained out. But officials say the lake is not out of the woods just yet. If the area gets more rain than expected, this could become a much larger issue than there was previously. But they still don’t know how big of an impact it would have.

“Whether or not they’re in imminent danger, I can’t say, I guess that depends on how much water we had built up behind this,” Cauthon says.

City officials will be keeping a close eye on the spillway and the dam.