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Medford Township Ordinance 2005-26
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FLOOD PICTURES taken on Tuesday, July 13, 2004 and later. The National Weather Service in Mt. Holly, NJ said the Medford area received 13 inches of rain on Monday, July 12, 2004, . The heavy runoff of this rain caused dams in Medford Lakes Boro to fail. In addition to the runoff, the water stored in these lakes in Medford Lakes Boro cascaded into Birchwood Lakes. As witnessed by one Birchwood Lakes resident from his property adjacent to the Lower Lake (Timber Lake) dam, the spillway was handling the runoff until around 11 PM when he saw a surge of water come down the lake, hit the dam and bounce of it and onto his property. From then on the water came in so great a volume that it filled the Lower Lake until it started overtopping the dam. The overtopping became about 3 feet deep across the width of the dam and on the two streets and four properties adjacent to the dam. In all, a river approximately 500 feet wide by 3 feet deep. In spite of this enormous flow, neither of BLCC's two dams failed! Both were overtopped. Both suffered damage. Neither failed. In fact, as shown in these pictures, the Lower Lake dam helped reduce the flow going down stream by storing an additional 50+ acre feet of flood water. The Lower Lake was at capacity and water was going over the spillway when the surge of water came in from Medford Lakes Boro. The Lower Lake rose and the dam was overtopped. When the incoming surge subsided, the Lower Lake level was maintained at the new higher level of the overtopping (Pict-01). This was three feet higher than the spillway and the Lower Lake area is 17.15 acres. Thus 17.15 acres X 3 feet of additional depth = 50+ acre feet of stored water. The Upper Lake dam has such a wide spillway that no additional water was stored. The berm next to the spillway was washed away in the flood but the bulkheading on either side of this berm remained in place. See pictures 7A and 7B. The following morning this bulkheading was in place and even though water was seeped through the bulkheading, water was going over the spillway and the lake remained at its normal level. Here are the pictures. Each picture is on a separate page to speed up downloading. Pict-01 Lower (Timber) Lake dam being overtopped Pict-02 Jackson Road view to SW Lakeside Dr. Pict-03 55 NW Lakeside Dr home Flood Level Pict-04 46 SW Lakeside Dr home Flood Level Pict-05 Upper Lake Inlet erosion Pict-06 Vacant Building lot on SW Lakeside Dr erosion Pict-07A Upper Lake Dam holds during flood Pict-07B Upper Lake Dam bulkhead is intact Pict-07C Upper Lake Dam is breeched Later Pict-07D Upper Lake Dam from North Side Pict-07E Upper Lake Dam early AM Pict-08 Upper Lake Dam is sandbagged Pict-09 Upper Lake inlet silting Pict-10 Lower Lake dam having bulkheads installed Pict-11 Silting of cove on NW Lakeside Dr Pict-13 BLCC Clubhouse meeting room repairs Pict-14 BLCC Clubhouse kitchen repairs Pict-15 BLCC Clubhouse furniture cleaning
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