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Buoys washed over top of dam
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A buoy line at Tired Creek Lake broke free and washed up over the dam Friday.
The buoy line in front of the dam at Tired Creek Lake broke loose Friday and one end washed over the dam and cannot be retrieved until the flow of water, which has increased from heavy rains, subsides, according to Grady County Lake Authority executive director Mike Binion.
Binion says he has had issues with the buoy line since the lake filled. The anchor buoy broke free a couple of months ago and resulted in a portion of the buoy line being washed over the dam last week.
The county official says cotter pins and bolts that hold the line in place rusted out and broke. The county is in the process of replacing all of the connections with stainless steel.
A temporary line with fluorescent ribbons on it to warn boaters of the off limit area has been established.
“Once we replace everything with stainless we won’t have these problems,” Binion said.
The lake authority executive director consulted with the engineers who designed the dam and they reported no similar issues with other projects they have worked on.
Binion believes the acidity of the water in the lake contributed to the parts rusting out and failing.
The anchor buoy was anchored by a 13,000 pound of concrete on the floor of the lake, but when the cable securing it snapped free the county’s only choice was to bring in a diver to retrieve the cable and reattach it or find another solution.
Binion said late last year the contractor who put in the pilings for the future floating docks was hired to drive pilings into the lake to attach the anchor buoy to.
In addition to marking the area near the dam as off limits, the buoy line also is designed to keep debris and limbs from entering the spill way, according to Binion.
“It always seems like we have a problem on Christmas Eve. In 2019, I spent about eight hours getting the buoy line reconnected and then last year I was out there about five hours working on it,” Binion said.
He said replacing galvanized steel components with stainless steel will eliminate the problem going forward.
“I give a lot of credit to Mr. Binion and Mr. (Brian) Harrison for putting up that temporary rope line. It isn’t perfect, but once we retrieve the buoys and get it hooked back up it will be,” Grady County administrator J.C. (Buddy) Johnson III, said at Tuesday’s county commission meeting.
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