Carroll County officials say Pipers Gap Community residents can now return home

GALAX, Va. – Aug. 31 4:00 PM UPDATE:

According to Carroll County Emergency Services, the emergency related to the possible dam failure in Galax has been canceled. 

Officials say residents who were evacuated in the Pipers Gap Community can return home. 

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3:30 AM UPDATE:

A Flash Flood Warning has been extended until 9:30 a.m. Friday morning. According to local emergency management, the unamed dam remained under the threat of failing. Work continues to be done to reduce the lake level to lessen impacts if the dam were to completely fail.

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10:35 UPDATE: 

Pipers Gap Road has reopened. According to the Carroll County Emergency Manager, crews will be at the dam and the road to monitor the situation and re-close the road if the dam fails. 

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7:30 p.m. UPDATE: 

A Flash Flood Warning has been extended until 3:30 a.m. Friday for areas downstream of the unnamed dam on Pipers Gap Rd. in southwestern Carroll County.

This is not as large an area as the College Lake Dam, but it would threaten 10-15 homes if it broke. Officials remain on scene, actively taking measures to reduce the level of the lake the unnamed dam could impact. 

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About 10 homes could be affected if a Carroll County dam breaks Thursday, according to Carroll County's emergency services director.

Everett Lindberry said that the dam holds back a private pond with an earthen dam wall and that part of it has eroded away because there was a broken pipe inside the wall.

The pond is about an acre and a half and about 25 feet deep.

The dam is at 303 Boxwood Lane.

Right now, crews are looking to drain the water with rental pumps, according to Lindberry. The goal is to drain the pond by three feet until it's no longer leaking.

Lindberry said that the only reason the National Weather Service warning covers the city of Galax is because the NWS couldn't draw a polygon any smaller in its system.

Only the immediate homes downstream would be the ones affected, according to Lindberry.

Evacuations the 2100 block of Pipers Gap Road in Galax, where the potentially impacted homes are, remain voluntary. 

According to the National Weather Service, the dam has not undergone a complete failure yet but is considered to be in imminent danger. 

Flood water from a failure would move down the stream below the dam and would reach Wards Mill Branch and then flow into Chestnut Creek, according to the weather service. 

The weather service says if the dam were to fail, the water depth just below the dam could be up to about 15 feet or more deep.