Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Flooded Pond

My pond level has been at or above the level of my standpipe since late August. Today it got about three feet higher in just a matter of minutes.

Over night and this morning we got about an 1.3 inches of rain. Then, around noontime, in less than 45 minutes we got another 1.4 inches of rain.

My pond is a dammed ravine that normally has a very stable water level year around. But, this true gully washer flushed immense amounts of leaves, brances, and logs into my pond from a long ways away.

The former property owner had erected a fence across the mouth of the spillway, apparently to keep the fish from escaping. By the time I made my way to the spillway, the fence was dammed with logs, leaves, and brances. I ripped out as much of the fence as I safely could.

I've never seen the water this high before. Actually, I've never seen the water flow out the spillway, even when we got 6 inches of rain from a hurricane. The water was about 18 inches deep in the 3 - 4 foot wide spillway, which put it within about 12 inches of going over the top of the dam.

I hope all the rest of you in the path of this nasty storm made it though safely.

All is well. The fence on the spillway will never be put back. And, wow! The spillway is incredibly clean.

Ken

I got belted with heavy rains and bad weather. The overflow pipe in the pond handled the weather with no problem, my pond prowler boat was another story. I always leave the plug out so rain can drain out well a leaf decided to plug the hole and the whole boat filled up with water. The water line was over the fitting that the wires go threw so I know the water is on the inside of the boat. Gonna pull it out tomarrow and see if I can flip it over and drill a drain hole because the thing is sealed so it wont drain unless I make a hole.

I just limed the place, ysterday it looked like it snowed, today its mud. Hopefully all the lime didnt leave the bare ground where I wanted to grow grass.

nice catch cat....over the last 10 plus years, at least once every winter, i've been soaking wet and down in my spillway removing sticks and logs......kinda scary.

I thought I was ready for this rain ... but I guess I wasn't. Here's a picture of water pouring over a silt-fence from my neighbor's construction site ...


And here's one of my defense lines ...



... And, no, it didn't work all that well. Here's a "downstream" view.



If there's a "silver lining" to all this, I'm still learning what a tremendous force water is ... and how much more I need to learn! ... Mike, down in Rockbridge County, VA

Catmandoo's post is a classic. It is short, to the point, and scary. It tells the tale of exactly why any covering or filtering of any overflow should be engineered with experts, or DON'T DO IT. I have only been here some 14 months and have seen this question asked more than a couple of times. It is one of those "hey, I've got a good idea" decisions that can have unanticipated catastrophic results. I often wonder how many other pondmeisters have just gone ahead and constructed a filter or sieve at a principal or emergency overflow without really considering what could occur. It's like driving without a seatbelt....it might wind up being only a matter of time .
OK, I'm done. (for now)

sometimes even with no coverings at all on emergency spillway it can get clogged. my spill way is open with two ten-foot sections each about 4 1/2 feet tall....one water logged stick not even ten feet long can sit sideways in current and come to rest on spillway, afterwhich pine needles and smaller sticks, grass, leaves all begin to pile up and before you know it.....clogged. any pondmeister with timber around pond, an emergency spillway, and a record rainfall should be camping out on dam getting wet, and watching whats going on.

Watch out for dead racoons also. I had a dead racoon caught in my drain pipe after a big snow melt. Water was about 3 feet over normal level. Sounded like Niagera Falls when I got it out!

Years ago a man I was working for was killed trying to clean out the overflow and spilway of his pond. The forse of the water was so strong it pulled him under. 'Nuff said....Be Carefull!