The U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary advises boaters to exercise "extreme caution" on area lakes due to the amount of debris that has been washed into the water by recent heavy rainfall.
The debris on Lake Hamilton, in particular, is "the worst I've ever seen it," David J. Keyser, flotilla commander, said Thursday.
"Be real conscious about the debris" when boating on the lakes, Keyser said. "We're advising everybody to slow down and be real cautious."
The bays on the north side of Lake Hamilton on Tuesday were so clogged with debris "you couldn't even get in and out with a boat," Keyser said.
The main channel of Lake Hamilton all the way to Blakely Mountain Dam was full of debris during the auxiliary's survey of the lake on Tuesday. "I'm not talking about limbs and twigs; I'm talking about trees and logs," Keyser said.
The debris was so thick that the auxiliary's boat slowed to just above no-wake speed on the way back from Blakely Mountain Dam to the Coast Guard's Lake Hamilton Station on Highway 270.
There were "big logs" out in the middle of the lake, along with debris fields that covered the lake in the center channel, Keyser said.
"There's several bays in there that people aren't going to be able to get their boats out this weekend because it's just too much debris in there," he said.
With Lake Hamilton showing a slight rise on Thursday, and given the additional rainfall the area had received, Keyser said it would be next week before the auxiliary could go out and remove any debris.
"There's just so much of it, we're waiting for the situation to stabilize a little bit so we can get a handle on exactly how much debris there is out there, and where it's going to finally settle down. The wind's blowing it around right now," he said.
While the levels of lakes Hamilton and Catherine have stabilized, Lake Ouachita has risen above the full pool level of 578 feet above mean sea level, into its flood pool. Lake Ouachita was at 581.37 feet msl Thursday afternoon.
Entergy's Hydro Operations office said in an email Thursday afternoon to expect continuous flow releases from Blakely, Carpenter and Remmel dams of 6,000 cubic feet per second of water over the coming weeks as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers works to drop Ouachita out of the flood pool.
Ouachita, which forms behind Blakely Mountain Dam above Lake Hamilton, is managed by the Corps of Engineers. Hamilton, which forms behind Carpenter Dam above Lake Catherine, and Lake Catherine, which forms behind Remmel Dam above the Ouachita River, are managed by Entergy. Releases from all three dams have to be coordinated by Entergy and the Corps to maintain the lakes within their normal operating ranges.
Entergy said Lake DeGray is also in its flood pool. "Now that the rain event is over, once the river downstream starts to fall, they (the Corps of Engineers) will resume releases as needed to pull it back down out of the flood pool," the email said.
The auxiliary's Area of Responsibility, or AOR, also includes lakes Ouachita, Catherine and DeGray, in addition to the lakes in Hot Springs Village. The volunteer organization, in addition to cleaning up the lake and removing hazards, also works hand-in-hand with the Garland County Sheriff's Department. Even though it is not an enforcement agency, the auxiliary assists the sheriff's department by helping to remove buoys that are illegally placed, and performs free vessel safety checks at the boat ramps on all four lakes.
The auxiliary also teaches the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission boating safety class that is required for operators to receive an AGFC boating education card. It will be teaching the class at Lakeside High School beginning Monday, and will offer the course at National Park College later this month.
For more information, call Keyser at 501-762-0337, or email him at [email protected].
Local on 05/05/2017