Once-secret report reveals new details about failed Fort Jackson dam

Once-secret federal documents show that Fort Jackson was poorly prepared for a 2015 storm that smashed an earthen dam and sent 100 million gallons of water gushing onto adjacent homes and businesses.

The fort didn’t activate an emergency plan that required officials to notify Richland County of the dam break. Nor did the fort know how to lower water levels in Semmes Lake to relieve pressure on the dam that eventually fell apart.

Those conclusions are outlined in a 2016 Army investigation report that criticized Fort Jackson’s preparation and response to the storm. The report had been kept hidden from public view until the Army agreed to release the document recently in response to a court challenge by The State newspaper.

Findings in the report are raising more questions about Fort Jackson’s actions before and after the nearly 80-year-old dam crumbled the morning of Oct. 4, 2015. The questions are valid because the fort plans to rebuild the dam, which means Semmes Lake will be refilled.

When the Semmes Lake dam broke, homes and businesses below Fort Jackson sustained an estimated $20 million in damage. Two people driving in the Devine Street area several miles downstream from the fort died that morning. Many people living below the dam say they were not notified of the dam break.

Inspection records previously obtained by The State found that the dam was in poor shape and in need of repair. Even though fort officials were told about the problems two years before the 2015 storm, the repairs were never made.

Records produced in a lawsuit against the fort show the Army made the dam more hazardous by plugging up part of a spillway, which helps release water during emergencies. A fort public works official said that was done to keep water levels at Semmes Lake high so a general’s lakeside yard would look better.

Now, records have surfaced showing that the fort didn’t know how to brace for the storm as heavy rains bore down on Columbia — or take action after the dam broke. The fort was caught by surprise and was not ready to react to the emergency on the federal military installation, the 2016 investigation report said.

A major point outlined in the 2016 investigation report focuses on warnings to others about the dam break. The military's emergency action plan said Fort Jackson was supposed to tell Richland County about the broken dam so the county could warn residents living near the base.

But county spokeswoman Beverly Harris said that didn’t happen.

“We have no record that we received advance notice’’ from the fort of the dam break, Harris said in response to questions from The State newspaper.

Pete Strom, a lawyer who has sued the federal government on behalf of downstream homeowners, said it’s clear that Fort Jackson failed in its duties to protect and warn the public. The fort’s failure to enact the emergency action plan, which is required, is ample evidence of that, Strom said.

“Who knows for sure, but it’s possible the whole catastrophe could have been averted if they had their plan in place and someone there to implement that plan,’’ Strom said. “There was no effort.’’

The U.S. Department of Justice, which is representing Fort Jackson, declined comment on the report’s conclusions or steps the fort took at the time of the storm.

King’s Grant property owner Chris Corbett said he received no heads-up from the fort or the county that the Semmes Lake dam had failed the morning of Oct. 4, 2015. Some homes in his neighborhood flooded. In one case, one of Corbett’s neighbors had to rescue children as water rose rapidly in the predawn hours.

“Clearly nothing from Fort Jackson,’’ Corbett said. “I remember that distinctly.’’

King’s Grant is a gated community adjacent to Fort Jackson. Its entrance is a few hundred yards from one of Fort Jackson’s main gates. Wildcat Creek runs out of Semmes Lake and into the neighborhood.

Vince Hood, who lives in another neighborhood farther downstream from King’s Grant, said he saw water rising rapidly that morning near his home. The first indication he had was when a neighbor’s dog jumped off a deck about 6 a.m. and into a pool of water, he said. He said he also never received notice. Hood's neighborhood is near the confluence of Wildcat Creek and Gills Creek.

Like Corbett, he is unsure whether warnings could have been made in time for property owners to evacuate, but the investigation report’s findings are a concern.

“I’d hate to speculate, but it certainly doesn’t appear that anything was done’’ at Fort Jackson, said Hood, a retired colonel at McEntire Joint National Guard base near Eastover.

Richard Childers, an Army major who wrote the recently released investigation report, said Fort Jackson didn’t realize the severity of the pending storm before the dam broke, even though forecasts called for record-breaking rainfall. The fort did not go over the plan before the storm, Childers wrote in the 2016 investigation report.

“Clear trigger points for actions and responsibilities were not established,’’ Childers wrote, noting that he found no record that the fort ever activated the emergency action plan.

The report also said the fort's emergency plan didn't explain how to operate an outlet gate on the Semmes Lake dam or how long it would take to drain the lake, which would have relieved pressure on the 970-foot-long dam.

His report recommended that Fort Jackson begin a “formal effort” to evaluate and update its emergency action plans and operating procedures for the Semmes Lake dam, as well as other dams on the fort. Emergency procedures should be established and rehearsed to make sure they can be put in place when needed, he said.

Emergency action plans tell dam owners how to prevent failures, as well as what to do if a dam breaks. Most include telephone numbers of emergency officials to contact if a dam breaks or is in danger of breaking. Federal and state laws require dam owners to have emergency action plans, including the military.

Mark Ogden, a dam technical expert with the national Association of State Dam Safety Officials, said an emergency action plan is vital.

“They can be crucial, particularly if there are people downstream and businesses,’’ Ogden said. “If these people can be moved out of the way, it can save lives. These (plans) are extremely important. Potentially, they can stop a failure,’’ as well.

The Oct. 4, 2015, storm wrecked parts of Columbia with what many people consider the worst flood in the city’s history. Hundreds of homes flooded and many people had to scurry away in boats. Some of the city’s major intersections were underwater. Power was knocked out and Columbia’s water system was unusable for days because of contamination concerns. Dams across the Gills' Creek watershed broke, including the one at Semmes Lake.

All told, nine people died in the Columbia area that day, including the two downstream from the Semmes Lake dam. It has been difficult to prove that the dam’s failure caused those deaths, lawyers say. But Strom says people living closer to the fort were affected by the broken structure.

This story was originally published April 6, 2018 at 8:11 PM with the headline "Once-secret report reveals new details about failed Fort Jackson dam."