One Fort Jackson dam repaired, another could be

COLUMBIA, SC One dam at Fort Jackson has been repaired since last fall’s massive flood and another may be rebuilt, but the Army continued its silence Tuesday about why the earthen structures failed and what it is doing to ensure dam safety at the fort or on other military bases.

On a visit to Columbia, U.S. Army Secretary Eric Fanning declined to say whether the military would release inspection records of Fort Jackson dams that failed last October. The Army, so far, has refused to do so.

At least four dams at the fort suffered damage or broke during the storm, including Lower Legion Lake and Semmes Lake. The Lower Legion and Semmes Lake failures caused residents of nearby Kings Grant to sue the federal government, claiming the broken dams flooded their homes and caused $20 million in property damage.

“I did see the dam at Semmes Lake, but it is under investigation,’’ Fanning said. He referred questions to the U.S. Justice Department, which was not available late Tuesday afternoon. Fanning said he could not discuss the safety of dams at the fort or other Army bases because of the lawsuits.

But before the news conference, Fort Jackson officials acknowledged that they had repaired a broken dike at Lower Legion Lake, which, like Semmes Lake, feeds into Wildcat Creek above King’s Grant.

Water filled Lower Legion Lake on Tuesday and a layer of red clay-like material ran along the edge of the lake, plugging a hole that had formed in the dike during October’s storm. An area of rock rip-rap was visible along one side of the lake.

Col. Mark Shade, deputy commander at Fort Jackson, said the fort is “looking into’’ restoring the Semmes Lake dam. Shade did not elaborate and Fanning declined comment.

Revelations that the Army has rebuilt one dam and is looking at whether to reconstruct another come amid continuing questions about the dam failures the weekend of Oct. 3 — and whether rebuilt structures will hold up during the next storm.

Jones Andrews, a Columbia lawyer representing flood victims downstream from the fort, said he’s disturbed that the base has rebuilt a dam without answering questions about why it broke in the first place.

“That is completely disrespectful,’’ Andrews said. “We still, six months into this, can’t get any answers from them. But they are going to rebuild these dams and subject us to it again — without even answering the questions. I think that’s callous.’’

Questions not only surround the failure of the dams and their impact on adjoining property off the base, but also on the Devine Street area just downstream. At least two people died in the area during the October flood.

Emails obtained by The State newspaper under the Freedom of Information Act show that the Semmes Lake dam, a 22-foot-high structure, had been rated a “serious hazard,’’ one of the worst grades the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers can give after inspecting a dam. Deficiencies cited in the 2013 inspection might have caused the dam to fail in October 2015, according to an email obtained by the newspaper late last year.

The Army, however, refused to release inspection reports to the newspaper or to attorneys that would provide details of what went wrong at 75-year-old Semmes Lake or other lakes with dams that were damaged during the storm. U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham has asked the Corps of Engineers to release the records, but so far, the Army has not done so.

Military lawyers have cited possible terrorist threats as among the reasons they declined to release the inspection reports.

Broken dams weren’t isolated to Fort Jackson last October. About 45 dams in the Columbia area breached during the storm, many of them in the Gills Creek Watershed where Semmes Lake is found. The October storm dropped more than 1.5 feet of rain on the Columbia area in a matter of days, flooding streets, knocking out power and sending people fleeing for higher ground. Most of the dams that broke were private community dams.

Today, private dam owners in the Gills Creek watershed are struggling with how — and whether — to rebuild the earthen structures that helped form the lakes they live on.

Some Gills Creek landowners are having difficulty raising money to rebuild dams. Others say the price to rebuild an earthen community dam, estimated at more than $1 million, will likely prevent them from doing so.

While Fanning didn’t say much about dams during his visit to Columbia, he praised Fort Jackson’s relationship with the community.

Fanning, who has been Army Secretary for less than a month, spent most of the day touring the fort, where he talked with recruits and learned about operations. He said he came to Columbia because Fort Jackson is so important as a training base for the nation’s soldiers.

“I’m always happy to see when there is a strong relationship between an installation and the community around it,’’ he said. “It’s clear just from this visit today how incredibly strong that is in particular here between Columbia, Fort Jackson and the state of South Carolina. It is much appreciated. It does not go unnoticed in making decisions back in Washington.’’

This story was originally published June 8, 2016 at 5:49 PM with the headline "One Fort Jackson dam repaired, another could be."