National Dam Safety Day is Friday, May 31, 2024, and Mayor Keith R. Sydnor and the Department of Community Resources and Emergency Management want to remind residents that the City of Laurel is situated below the T. Howard Duckett Dam and ask you to recognize the need to be prepared.
National Dam Safety Day was created to memorialize the 2,200 lives lost in 1889, when the South Fork Dam failed near Johnstown, Pennsylvania.
Today, dams are important infrastructures that provide flood control, drinking water to communities, and improve wildlife habitats. We also need to be aware of the risks of living downstream from a dam and what steps can be taken to mitigate catastrophic dam failures that can pose significant flood risks and how to prepare.
The T. Howard Duckett Dam underwent several infrastructure renovations in recent years that helped bring it into line with new Maryland Department of the Environment guidelines. The renovations included adding concrete walls along each side of the dam and adding concrete slabs along the downstream side of the dam to prevent erosion.
These upgrades to the existing dam infrastructure will help the dam withstand a 1 in 10,000-year Flood, otherwise known as a Probable Maximum Flood, which would be 32 inches of rain falling over a 72-hour period.
The Mayor and Laurel City Council encourage all residents and business owners to be aware and prepared in case flooding from a dam failure could impact your property. To learn more about the operations of the T. Howard Duckett Dam and their procedures during severe weather, visit https://www.wsscwater.com/duckett-dam-frequently-asked-questions-faqs and to see if you fall within the 100-year flood plain, visit https://msc.fema.gov/portal/home.
