When The Dam Broke
It was an uncommon I v hard rain tliaf
night. and I ho oily editor foresaw a ma¬
jor disaster for f»rck4knslioro.
By FRANK JETER. JR.
In this Year of our Lord 1987 Lake
Brandi is a reliable source of municipal
water for the City of Greensboro. This
was equally true 40 or more years ago.
in 1947. when it also served as a city
reservoir.
But one dark and stormy night four
decades ago this happy situation was
threatened by the forces of Mother Na¬
ture. I'm not sure whether anyone had
offended Mother Nature, but impres¬
sive volumes of rain had been falling for
most of a day. causing flooded streets,
swollen streams, stalled cars and other
distressing conditions.
The hard-wxirking newspapermen on
the Greensboro Daily News (and the af¬
ternoon publication, the Greensboro
Record) had been taking due note of
such conditions and attempting to keep
their readers informed.
But it wasn't until late that night that
it scented the really Big Story was about
to unfold. Somehow newspaper editors
get wind of approaching crises, and
word spread quickly about the news¬
room on the second floor that we might
have something approaching the famed
Johnstown Flood up in Pennsylvania.
The city editor, who could achieve a
degree of breathless excitement when
something was about to happen, put it
succinctly: "We may have a real flood
on our hands. They say that the water
is about to rise over the top of the l-ake
Brandt dam. and it's only an earthen
dam.
"If that happens, we could have a big
washout. A wall of water might come
sweeping down. Houses could be swept
away! People might even drown!"
That's how he put it. and yet there
was a frustration. The press was about
to roll on the first edition, which went
on the delivery trucks starting at 10
p.m. Since nothing had happened yet.
the only "weather story" in the bulldog
THE STATE, JANUARY 1987
edition would talk about street flooding
and such insignificant problems.
It was quickly decided to send a team
out to the dam site to watch the water
as it rose toward disaster. To keep each
other company, and also to have some¬
one on the scene if another newsman
was phoning in the latest details, two
people from the newsroom were sent.
Then it was decided to send a staff pho¬
tographer. so that the historic happen¬
ing could be properly recorded.
Out to the dam site we went. We
knew that the next edition didn't come
off until two o'clock in the morning. We
were ready.
Standing in the rain at Lake Brandt,
we saw that the turn of events was truly
ominous. Sure enough, the water had
almost reached the top of the earthen
dam. and seemed about to breach it at
any moment.
The photographer stayed in the car.
Although he had a big Speed Graphic-
press camera, complete with flash gun
and plenty of bulbs and film, what
could he photograph on a black night
with mily car headlights, a couple
«>1
puny flashlights, and a big body of wa¬
ter to photograph?
We waited. We looked at our
watches. Midnight came and went: the
second edition would have no
По«н1
story. We waited some more. Finally,
about I a. m.. the first water began to
roll across the dam. It was breached!
The dam was broken.
An interim telephone call was made,
hut we wanted to see just h«»w ba«l the
effects of the dam break would be— and
we had a little time still.
The water began t«> flow across a
wider area «»f the dam. But n«> major
opening occurred: it was just a rela¬
tively gentle little How. We waited. Fi¬
nally it was time t«* write the definitive
story for the final morning edition.
Disaster? Hardly. The water did top
the dam. and allowed a gentle flow, an
inch or two deep and maybe 15 or 20
feet wide, to descend to the stream bed
below the dam. N«> homes got washed
away. No lives were threatened.
Fven ih('ugh topped, the main struc¬
ture of the dam did its stuff. And the
weather story was amended to tell the
breakfast table readers that Like Brandt
did have water over the dam.
The next day we didn't say a thing
about it to the city editor.
Easy-Going Emporium
(Continued from page 18)
dozen ginger cakes: one open-faced,
one cross-barred, one kivvered pie (all
potato); a bag of patches and lots of en¬
thusiasm. Today we have confreres but
no competitors. . . . Our motto: A lit¬
tle more kindness, a little less creed, a
little more giving, a little less greed, a
little more smile, a little less frown, a
little less kicking a man when he's
down, a little more ‘we.* a little less 'I.'
a little more laugh a little less cry. a lit¬
tle more flowers on the pathway of life
and fewer graves at the end of the
strife."
Col. Gregory's grave was closed in
the family cemetery at Sassafras Fork
in August. 1932.
SAVE YOUR COPIES
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Available at $8.00. delivered: 2
for Si 5.00: 3 for $21 00
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Box 2169. Raleigh. N.C. 27602
21
