Wow you did get some serious rainfall then!
It shouldn't be too difficult to drop the emergency overflow a little by doing some digging. That's all I have on my biggest pond. I don't trust pipes through dams even with collars.
I wish the best for you Blaine. You sure have a beautiful pond there. Having a pond can have a bump in the road now and then but it's all part of the adventure.
Think of the bright side. You now know what you have to do to prevent this from happening in the future. Worse things happen. I know a guy that went out to his pond after a serious massive rainfall the night before. The pond was gone along with the his dyke!
