MEDFORD, Ore. (AP) — Flows in Southern Oregon’s Rogue River will be higher for a longer time following storms this winter to reduce the risk that floodgates on Lost Creek Dam could fail.
The Mail Tribune newspaper reports the Army Corps of Engineers will draw down Lost Creek Reservoir by eight feet starting in late November to lower the risk that floodgates could fail when the reservoir gets full.
The radial floodgates on Lost Creek Dam have been used only once, in a 1997 flood, but tests indicate they could stick when high water increases the pressure behind them.
The Corps has requested $7.5 million to fix them, but Lost Creek ranks lower in priority than dams in the Willamette Valley, where the same design was used and the floodgates are opened more frequently.
