Breach fears raised at N.C. plant
Lake inundated; company worries dam might fail
WILMINGTON, N.C. — Duke Energy activated a high-level emergency alert at a retired coal-fired power plant in North Carolina as floodwaters from the nearby Cape Fear River overtopped an earthen dike there and inundated a large lake, raising concerns of a potential breach.
The dam containing Sutton Lake appeared stable, and Duke officials were monitoring it with helicopters and drones, Duke spokeswoman Paige Sheehan said Thursday, calling it “an evolving situation.”
Company employees notified state regulators overnight that the 1,100acre lake at the L.V. Sutton Power Station near Wilmington was at the highest alert level under its emergency action plan.
A copy of that plan reviewed by The Associated Press defines an Emergency Level 1 event as: “Urgent! Dam failure is imminent or in progress.”
“Flash flooding will occur downstream of the dam,” the manual says. “This situation is also applicable when flow through the earth spillway is causing downstream flooding of people and roads.”
Sheehan said the company was in contact with local emergency management officials but high water levels meant “if the berm were to break, there would be very minimal impact down river.”
A landfill under construction at the site meant to hold coal ash in lined terraces ruptured over the weekend, spilling enough material to fill 180 dump trucks
Parts of the top level of the landfill washed away in the heavy rains, leaving large scars where exposed coal ash was visible under a foot or two of sand and dirt. One crack was so wide that a bulldozer and two heavy rollers had fallen in sideways and were still stuck Thursday.
Sheehan said the company does not believe any coal ash is at risk of spilling from the site amid the current flooding, as work continues to clean up the earlier spill. The site received more than 30 inches of rain from former Hurricane Florence, with the Cape Fear River expected to crest Saturday.
Duke Energy said Wednesday that water samples collected by its employees and tested at the company’s own lab showed “no evidence of a coal ash impact” to the lake or river.