Timberlake Dam

 place with historical importance, dam, interesting place

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The original dam was built during the 1920s to turn what had been a golf club into a waterfront community.In 1996 the original dam containing the lake road washed out at night during a heavy rainfall.

The cause of failure was determined to be washover, meaning the spillway could not carry the added capacity of the rainfall. After the dam broke a rescue worker was killed downstream as he was attempting to pull an accident victim from a car on 460. As the torrent of water rushed towards him he was trapped under the bridge with the victim.

Further downstream sever other cars were washed away claiming at least one other victim in a car that was not found for over a week in the wooded area that it had been washed into.

The lake is privately owned and as such the dam was not immediately rebuilt. The lake remained empty for the summer of 1996. This allowed for fetures of the golf course to be seen along with sunken rowboats and years of debris.

Eventually enough money was raised to rebuild the dam. This was difficult considering the homeowners did not want to cough up the funds for replacement. The new design did not incorporate the lake road.

In the aftermath, the once contiguous lake roads is now two separate pieces with no connection. The dam standing in place of the original was designed to allow water to flow over it completely across without failure and cost well in excess of $1M.