Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Lake Elmdale level lowered for spillway repair
SPRINGDALE — The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission is drawing down Lake Elmdale’s water so a spillway can be repaired after it was damaged by recent flooding.
The flash floods hitting Northwest Arkansas on April 29 caused a 150-footwide hole to a spillway, said Jon Stein, Game and Fish’s district fisheries supervisor in Rogers.
“The water was 6 feet above normal,” Stein said. “The lake came up so fast because there was so much water runoff, there wasn’t enough water going out the emergency spillway. It had to go out of the secondary spillway, and when it did that, it caused the erosion to the secondary spillway.”
For the past week, Game and Fish has been using a control structure that includes a gate mechanism to drain the water into a creek and lower the lake 3 to 4 feet, Stein said.
“We’re drawing it down so an engineering firm can tell us what needs to be done to fix the problem with the secondary spillway and help us design something that will lessen the effect of any flooding that occurs in the future,” Stein said.
The late April storms brought 10 inches of rain. The spillway hole was created in 2011 when 17 inches of rain elevated the lake. Game and Fish repaired the hole, filling it with large rocks and concrete as advised by an engineer at the time, Stein said.
Lake Elmdale experienced another flood in December 2015, according to Stein. He said in a Game and Fish report that 2 to 5 inches of rainfall will typically raise the lake over its dam and into the emergency spillway. Larger amounts of water carry the lake into the secondary spillway.
The 143-acre lake, which is near Elm Springs, is 30 to 35 feet deep at its deepest point at regular levels, Stein said in a Game and Fish report.
Spillway repair could take up to a year to complete, Stein said.
Melissa Reeves, public relations director for the city, said Friday flash flood damage is being repaired in other parts of the city. She said the Lake Springdale trailhead opened June 2. She said the city was working Friday to open Thunder Chicken Mountain Bike Trail off of the Lake Springdale Trailhead.
“The only remaining closure related to the April flood is Pump Station Road bridge, which will remain closed until further notice,” Reeves said.
The 143-acre lake, which is near Elm Springs, is 30 to 35 feet deep at its deepest point at regular levels, Stein said in a Game and Fish report.