Dam at Mississippi lake could soon fail; residents urged to flee
Heavy rains could cause the failure of a dam in a rural northeastern Mississippi county as officials on Tuesday urged residents to evacuate as a precaution.
County Emergency Management Agency Director Kristen Campanella said the county engineer had inspected the Oktibbeha County Lake dam, reported extremely high water levels in the lake and noted the dam could fail at any time.
Mississippi has one of the highest numbers of dams that pose dangers and are in poor or unsatisfactory condition, according to a two-year investigation by The Associated Press.
The Oktibbeha County Lake dam, built in the 1960s, was rated fair the last time it was inspected in 2016.
A February 2019 report made available to the AP on Tuesday noted ongoing seepage problems that the county board of supervisors said they lacked money to fix.
At: https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/nation/officials-dam-at-mississippi-lake-could-soon-fail/
County officials work on the Oktibbeha County Lake Dam, Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2020, near Starkville, MS.
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