Gas spills in lake, marina is damaged
Posted on Wednesday, July 9, 2008
BEAVER LAKE - Boaters gathering on Beaver Lake for the Lost Bridge Village fireworks show Saturday night got jostled around pretty good by rain and straight-line winds estimated by the National Weather Service to have reached in excess of 70 miles per hour. But a short distance away, those camping and boating at Lost Bridge Marina were taking an even nastier pounding.
Fierce winds caused several half- and one-inch steel cables to snap at Lost Bridge Marina. Several sections of boat docks were moved on the water - one drifting more than 20 feet into another set of covered boat slips. A light pole snapped off near the Lost Bridge Marina office, as did three of the walkways leading to docks and the marina office. It took a diver to locate the main walkway that carried people from the parking lot to the office. And a section of the wooden fence and rock columns at the entrance of the marina toppled over.
Bob Bauer said no one was hurt, but that the storm caused more damage than any in the 21 years he's owned the marina. What remained fuzzy even into Sunday afternoon was exactly how much damage had been done.
The Hazardous Materials teams of the Rogers and Bentonville fire departments were called to Lost Bridge Marina on a report that a gas line had been damaged. Initial estimates were that up to 300 gallons of fuel has spilled into the marina, but Bauer contended that just three to five gallons - the volume able to fit in the line that ran from the holding tank and the pump - had spilled into Beaver Lake.
"There are security valves and there's no way more than a few gallons got out," Bauer said.
According to the report filed by Benton County Department of Emergency Management to the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management, however, 250 to 300 gallons of fuel were estimated to have spilled into Beaver Lake at Lost Bridge Marina.
"The number we had in our official report to the state was 250 to 300 gallons," said Marshal Watson, director of D. E. M. "That's a firm number. HazMat responded to the marina and we're confident we have an accurate estimate."
Watson said a strong smell of gasoline and a light sheen were detected on the surface of the water in the marina. HazMat teams placed absorbent booms around the marina and managed to contain what he believes was the majority of the spill.
"The official report eventually goes to the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality," Watson said. "If they decide to look into this further, it will be several weeks before their report would be made available."
Bauer and staff were working to shuttle campers out to their boats and a diver was still attempting to free one of the submerged walkways that had been jarred loose during the storm. There were no emergency ropes or barriers around the marina Sunday afternoon.
"There's a lot of damage, so I'm just taking it one thing at a time," Bauer said.
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