Many of you no doubt recall the extreme flooding that hit our area when Tropical Storm Chantal came through in July of 2025. The storm led to severe erosion on the downstream side of the Lake Ellen dam. Although the dam is not in imminent danger of failure, extensive work is needed to repair the dam and bring it up to code once again. I am delighted to announce that LEHA (led by the efforts of board member, Steven Warwick) has secured funding from FEMA for a repair that should provide near-permanent protection against similar flooding. And considering that Chantal has been called a 500-yr flood, that’s a lot of protection! What will the repair look like? Briefly, the work will involve: (1) clearing out Crow Branch, the stream that runs near the dam, so that its flow is unimpeded by boulders and debris and it stays away from the dam; (2) repairing the eroded slope; 3) dealing with underbrush and trees that the NC Office of Dam Safety requires to be removed; and (4) constructing a concrete wall on the downstream side of the dam to prevent future incursions by the stream. Once the work is done, we should have a stable structure that will last for decades. How will the repair affect the lake? In the long term, there will be no effect on the lake because all the work will be on the downstream side of the dam. However, there will be short-term effects. The most obvious is that we will have to lower the lake in a couple of stages while work progresses. The issue is that it is necessary to lower the pressure of water pushing against the dam from upstream while work is happening on the downstream side. We expect this process to begin around mid-November and progress in three stages. In the first stage, the water will be dropped by about 3 feet and then slowly lowered further into early December, after which we will allow the lake to refill naturally from normal rainfall. Much of the next phase will involve refining the design based on the work done in the first phase, and little new work will occur. Once we are ready for the final phase, we will start lowering the lake again to reduce the pressure on the dam while the work proceeds. Timeline: Because the start date and construction time depend in part on the final design and the weather, we cannot provide an exact timeline. If all goes according to plan, we hope to have the work completed by summer of 2027 before the next hurricane season! Please feel free to send questions to us at lehaboard@gmail.com Many thanks for your patience as we work through this process!