Jan. 19, 2024 Editor, The News-Gazette: This letter is to inform property owners who live along the whole length of the Maury River, that the latest Emergency Action Plan and Inundation Study (2020), can be found on the Rockbridge Regional Library website. Go to rrlib.net, then click on Lake Merriweather Files.
The NCAC/BSA, owners of the Goshen Scout Camp and Lake Merriweather, is required by law to update this study every six years. This is because the dam is a high hazard dam, meaning catastrophic loss of life and property were the dam to break in a flooding situation.
If you have property or live on the Maury anywhere downstream, you are urged to have a look at this inundation study. It will tell each property owner projected flooding, in feet, for your property; how long it will take the high water to arrive there; and how long it will stay there. It will tell you what roads and bridges will be impassable, too. From this knowledge, one might make a personal emergency plan in the unlikely, but quite possible, event such a breach will happen. Be prepared! ANNE McCLUNG Rockbridge County
