Our emergency spillway, seen above back in November, has been protecting the Broadmoor Shopping Center, University Avenue, and UALR continuously all night. If you get a chance, drive by and watch it in action. The spillway takes excess water off the lake so it does not overtop the dam. If it did, the dam might fail.
In the flood of 1978, the dam did overtop, when it rained over 10 inches the morning of September 13. With the new spillway, Broadmoor Dam drains the excess, so it does not build up on the limited "freeboard," the amount of the dam above the ordinary high water mark on the lake side, and go over the top.
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