60-foot crack appears on rural Utah Panguitch Lake Dam

A 60-foot-wide and 2 to 5-foot-tall crack was identified at rural Utah’s Panguitch Lake Dam, on the evening of Monday, April 8, 2024, which caused safety concerns about the nearby town’s 1,800 residents.

The Panguitch Lake Dam was built in 1872 as a masonry dam, to increase the natural lake’s height, and in 1942 they added a concrete structure on top, to further increase the dam and lake heights.

The 60-foot crack was identified on the top, concrete part of the dam, and immediately raised concern for downstream residents, with officials issuing a Level 2 emergency on Thursday, April 9.

On the following day, a list of evacuation procedures was handed out to worried residents of Panguitch town, during a town meeting.

Furthermore, the dam’s top had an 8-degree tilt, which was mainly caused by the large water mass contained within the reservoir, which at that time was frozen on top, pushing the dam.

The course of action was to stabilize the concrete structure by reinforcing its downstream face with riprap, as well as reducing the lake’s elevation by releasing about 260 cubic feet of water per second.

In addition to this, crews worked on removing the top ice that was pushing the concrete structure, reducing its tilt to 2 degrees.

Finally, the situation seems to be well under control, as the nearby State Route 143 was reopened after parts of it remained closed for some days, and the evacuation order was lifted as the dam’s stability was restored.