As shock subsides, Carrboro flood victims want answers over dam’s devastating overflow
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Tropical Storm Chantal breached University Lake Dam, causing major sewer spills.
- Residents criticized OWASA for delayed alerts and limited flood warning systems.
- OWASA pledged infrastructure reviews but confirmed no critical dam safety issues.
When Tropical Storm Chantal hit Central North Carolina on July 6, it overwhelmed University Lake Dam, sending a torrent of water down Morgan Creek, swelling its banks as it flowed by the Chapel Hill Tennis Club and into the Carrboro neighborhood Weatherhill Pointe.
According to the Orange Water and Sewer Authority (OWASA), the lake’s water level rose 93 inches above the dam’s flashboards — its last line of defense against rising water. “That’s nearly eight feet of water spilling over the dam,” spokeswoman Katie Hall wrote on OWASA’s website on July 30, under a headline that read, “OWASA vs. Chantal: Prepared, Reflective, Grateful.”
Almost half of the 80 single-family homes flooded in Weather Hill Pointe, a 1990s subdivision, displacing dozens of people.
Downstream from the dam, adjacent to Morgan Creek, the surge seeped into 80-year-old Peter Burke’s home in Weatherhill Pointe, covering most of his possessions in a thick, muddy sludge.
He and his 79-year-old wife received no evacuation order. “We didn’t hear anything, from anyone,” he said.
Carrboro Fire Rescue eventually pulled them to safety. No injuries were reported. They were among 57 water rescues from Weatherhill Pointe alone.
OWASA’s Hall wrote that the eight feet of overflow “crept close to water levels that would call for evacuations downstream of the dam. We are very grateful the water began to recede before evacuations were needed.”
But two months later, the Burkes are still grappling with the storm’s aftermath. Displaced, uninsured, and living in a friend’s spare room, they’ve already spent over $40,000 on remediation alone, removing soaked drywall, flooring and insulation.
On a Monday morning in August, the stench of waste still lingered. Weatherhill Pointe, despite its name, lies at the bottom of a hill, tucked next to the Chapel Hill Tennis Club. It’s less than two miles east of University Lake.
“What’s the future here?” Burke asked, walking through his gutted home. “We’re in a precarious situation downstream from a lake. Even if we fix it all up, will people want to buy? At what prices?”
As shock turns to anger, many are asking if the town adequately monitored the situation at University Lake Dam. They’re also scrutinizing communication between the town, Orange County Emergency Management, and OWASA, a public, non-for-profit utility that manages the dam.
As extreme climate-related events become more common, many say authorities failed to create effective warning systems. They also haven’t done enough to improve infrastructure and mitigate the risks, worsening the flood’s impacts, they say.
The subdivision sits largely outside the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s special flood hazard area, where insurance is required. As a result, most homes in Weatherhill Pointe are not covered.
In an Aug. 7 letter to residents, OWASA conceded some shortcomings. “Communication could have been better.”
“We understand that neighborhoods downstream from the lake experienced flooding, nonetheless,” it read.
OWASA said it’s working with local emergency responders to identify “potential improvements.” It’s also developing a climate adaptation plan.
For Weatherhill Pointe residents, including Burke, that’s not good enough.
“I’d like some answers,” he said. “Who knew what, and when? Was it realistically possible to get a warning in time to throw things in the car, including the cat, and get ourselves out safely?”
Above all: “Could it happen again?”
The night of the flood
On Sunday, July 6, Orange County issued a series of alerts to the public using OC Alerts, its emergency notification system. Subscribers are notified via email blasts, text messages and phone calls. The initial alerts were issued in rapid succession as the storm intensified that afternoon.
3:32 p.m.: Severe Thunderstorm Warning.
3:51 p.m.: Tornado Warning.
3:53 p.m.: Flash Flood Warning — the first alert specific to the flooding threat.
As the severe weather continued, numerous additional warnings were issued to keep the public informed of evolving threats, records show.
Among them: tornado warnings at 6:16 p.m., 6:41 p.m., and 7 p.m., and a series of subsequent flood-related warnings at 7:07 p.m., 7:40 p.m., 8:06 p.m. and 9:38 p.m. They included instructions to avoid travel and seek higher ground.
At 9:30 p.m.: Residents reported that the power went out.
10 p.m. Emergency rescue crews evacuated about 100 residents at the Weatherhill Pointe and Canterbury Townhomes neighborhoods. Between 8 and 10 p.m., Morgan Creek had swelled from 5 feet to over 16 feet.
The damage
In an email to The News and Observer, OWASA’s Hall said the agency communicated throughout the storm with local emergency personnel regarding the lake’s water levels upstream of Weatherhill Pointe. “We didn’t reach the level of water over the spillway that would have triggered evacuation by Orange County Emergency Management (OCEM) and the [state]” she said. They’re reviewing protocols, she added.
Adding to the challenge: existing infrastructure lacks a system to track water flow as it overtops the dam, said Carrboro Fire Chief Will Potter.
Translating upstream data into a precise downstream warning is a “significant analytical challenge,” he said. On-the-ground conditions deteriorated “far more rapidly than could be anticipated.”
Built in 1932 and owned by the University of North Carolina, University Lake Dam sits about 25 feet tall at the intersection of several creeks, creating a drinking water reservoir for Chapel Hill and Carrboro. It’s part of the Morgan Creek watershed, which ultimately feeds into the Cape Fear River Basin. It holds back roughly 600 million gallons of water across a 213-acre surface area.
University Lake has a “high dam hazard potential,” according to the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality. An emergency action plan has been in place since 2015, records show.
The dam was last inspected on March 4 this year and assessed as “satisfactory.”
In addition to not being equipped to gauge water flow, the dam has other existing structural constraints, OWASA executive director Todd Taylor wrote in a July 22 post published on Chapelboro.com.
Unlike Chatham County’s Jordan Lake Dam, University Lake Dam was built with no gates or valves. It consists of a concrete wall topped with steel flashboards on the lake’s eastern edge, and an earthen berm forming the rest of the structure. The flashboards — installed to raise the lake’s storage capacity — act as a passive barrier.
Once the lake is full, it’s meant to overflow, Taylor wrote.
“Whereas reservoirs like Jordan Lake are able to release water downstream through flood gates, University Lake has no such mechanism. When the reservoir is full, water comes right up to the top of the flashboards, then spills over the flashboards and continues its journey downstream.”
OWASA did stop the two sanitary sewer overflows, one on Bolin Creek and one on Morgan Creek, in 24 and 36 hours, respectively. These breaks resulted in over 1,049,100 gallons of wastewater spilled that bypassed wastewater treatment. OWASA said the overflows occurred downstream of Weatherhill Pointe and didn’t directly impact the community.
Meanwhile, some 795,900 gallons were captured, pumped back into the collection system and treated at OWASA’s Mason Farm Wastewater Treatment Plant in Chapel Hill, OWASA said. “Given the level of rain, these overflows were diluted with a significant amount of rainwater,” OWASA said.
Throughout the event, OWASA said it shared the impacts on its website and social media channels.
Subsequent assessments by OWASA’s engineers found no dam safety issues at the lake. Pump stations sustained some damage, but remained in operation. After a two-week recovery period, University Lake reopened for recreation on July 25.
According to hydrologist Tamlin Pavelsky, it’s unlikely OWASA could have done more. “With the amount of rain we got, there would have been significant flooding along Morgan Creek no matter what OWASA did,” said Pavelsky, a UNC-Chapel Hill professor of global hydrology.
In a watershed as small as University Lake’s, it would have been “extraordinarily difficult” to issue an evacuation order in time, he added.
As for a next time?
“Yes, an event like this could happen again,” he said. Though it’s historically very rare, the reality of climate change is reshaping risk assessments. Events once considered “500-year” or “1,000-year” are now happening far more frequently. The historical 0.2% estimate is “probably an underestimate for the future,” he said.
Local authorities must step up to communicate the risk, he said. “We should also be permitting a lot less building in areas that are prone to flooding.”
Lars Knapp, president of Weatherhill Pointe Homeowners’ Association, said he’s working with the town and OWASA to develop “long-term” plans. More than anything, “we’re working to restore the sense of normalcy our neighbors desire,” he said.
This story was originally published September 4, 2025 at 5:00 AM with the headline "As shock subsides, Carrboro flood victims want answers over dam’s devastating overflow."
