Lake Amanda facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Lake Amanda |
|
|---|---|
Lake Amanda in 2013
|
|
 Lake Amanda
Location in Texas
|
|
| Location | Tyler County, Texas |
| Coordinates | 30°53′35″N 94°24′18″W / 30.893°N 94.405°W |
| Type | artificial lake |
Lake Amanda is a special private artificial lake in Tyler County, Texas. It is located near the town of Colmesneil. This lake, along with a smaller one called Frog Pond, was created in the 1950s and 1960s. James Haralson developed them from his family's old land. He named Lake Amanda after his daughter.
The areas around the lake were first planned as fish camps. Families could come here to camp, fish, and enjoy nature. Today, some people live at Lake Amanda all the time. Others enjoy their retirement there, or visit for a fun weekend trip.
Contents
About Lake Amanda
Lake Amanda covers about 112 acres (that's like 85 football fields!). Its normal water level is 210 feet above sea level.
The Dam and Spillway
The lake has an earthfill dam located southeast of Colmesneil. A dam is like a big wall that holds back water to create a lake. The coordinates for the dam are 30.889, -94.400.
The spillway is a special part of the dam. It's like a drain that lets water out when the lake gets too full. This one is a rectangular box culvert that stands upright. It can be adjusted to change the lake's water level. The water from the spillway flows into Lively Branch, then into Wolf Creek, and finally into B.A. Steinhagen Reservoir.
The 2016 Flood Event
On Friday, May 27, 2016, the Colmesneil area had a huge rainstorm. About 14 inches of rain fell in just one afternoon! This caused the lake's water level to rise several feet. The water started flowing over the top of the earthfill dam.
Dam Failure and Aftermath
When water flowed over the dam, it caused a lot of erosion. Erosion is when soil and rock are washed away. In just a couple of hours, a big part of the dam, about 100 feet wide, was washed away. The lake quickly emptied its water downstream in less than two hours.
The nearby Frog Pond lake has a different type of spillway. Its concrete spillway is a bit lower than its dam. This design helped prevent the water from flowing over Frog Pond's dam during the same storm.
Rebuilding Lake Amanda's Dam
After the dam broke in May 2016, the community worked together to fix it. The Lake Amanda Water Control and Improvement District No. 1 (LAWCID) was formed. This group was created by the Tyler County Commissioners Court. About 165 families who own property around Lake Amanda asked for it to be formed.
Community Action and Funding
In November 2016, the LAWCID's formation was approved. A board of directors was elected. The people living around the lake voted to approve a bond issue of $1 million. This money was to help repair the dam.
The property owners paid for the engineering plans to fix the dam and build a new spillway. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality approved these plans in June 2017.
Loan Approval and Construction
In August 2017, the LAWCID started talking with the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB). They discussed getting a loan to pay for the dam repairs. In May 2018, the voters approved increasing the bond amount from $1 million to $1.5 million.
The LAWCID officially applied to the TWDB for this larger loan. On June 11, 2018, the TWDB board approved a 30-year loan for $1.5 million. The LAWCID received the money on August 3, 2018. A special ceremony was held on August 10, 2018, to mark the start of construction on the new dam.
