Marlboro County to pursue ‘lasting and efficient’ solutions in wake of dam failure

MARLBORO COUNTY, S.C. (WBTW) — Marlboro County leaders are prioritizing a long-term fix for the Lake Wallace Dam in the aftermath of a failure that created flooding in parts of its largest city earlier this week.

“We believe this should be the final straw. Moving forward, we will collaborate with local, state, and federal authorities to find lasting and efficient solutions to a longstanding issue,” officials wrote to the county’s Facebook page on Tuesday.

Those remarks came shortly after Bennettsville officials met to discuss similar concerns.

The Bennettsville area received an inch of rain with most of it falling between 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. on Monday, according to News13 meteorologist Scotty Powell, and a flash flood warning was issued because of the breach.

By about 11:30 p.m., the Marlboro County Sheriff’s Office said everyone in the area and their pets had been safely relocated. Marlboro County High School was opened as a shelter for residents.

The breach and flooding also led the Marlboro County School District to switch to an e-learning day on Tuesday.

Photos posted to social media showed inundated roads and water rescues carried out by emergency responders in the Shady Rest and Richardson Park communities.

Officials with the state Department of Health and Environmental Control and other authorities were at the dam on Tuesday.

DHEC said the agency will be working with the state Department of Natural Resources to “outline the regulatory requirements for repairs needed to restore the structural integrity of the dam,” which was most recently inspected on April 30.

Sully Blair, chairman of the Lake Wallace Authority that manages its day-to-day operations, said it has been drained to accommodate repair crews and an investigation into what exactly caused the problem.

“This … will guide the design and eventual repair of the dam and roadway. While it’s premature to provide an estimated repair timeline, we’re hopeful for an emergency order to expedite the roadway repair,” he said on the authority’s Facebook page.

Bennettsville Mayor Leith Fowler and other city officials said strong communication and quick response by staff helped avoid tragedy. There were no reported injuries.

“I truly believe we missed a bullet on this one. I think now we’ve got a chance to do the right thing and fix the dam, fix the creek and try to protect the neighborhoods,” he said.

City officials said drinking water can be provided via wells for several months as damaged infrastructure is replaced.

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Adam Benson joined the News13 digital team in January 2024. He is a veteran South Carolina reporter with previous stops at the Greenwood Index-Journal, Post & Courier and The Sun News in Myrtle Beach. Adam is a Boston native and University of Utah graduate. Follow Adam on X, formerly Twitter, at @AdamNewshound12 . See more of his work here .

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