Water from the Waccamaw River has started to flow into a Santee Cooper ash pond in Conway, South Carolina.
The company says the overtopping of Grainger ash pond No. 1 occurred about 9 a.m. Saturday along the intake canal wall of the dike.
Company spokeswoman Mollie Gore says no significant environmental impact is currently expected because they had already excavated nearly all of the ash from the pond. That effort began in 2014 and was on track to be finished in both ash ponds onsite within a few months. An estimated 200,000 tons (181,437 metric tons) remains in ash pond No. 2 in a corner farthest away from the river.
Gore says the second pond at the site has additional protection from the rising river, provided by an AquaDam, silt fencing and floating environmental containment boom that was placed during the past week.
River forecasts project the Waccamaw will reach a new historic flood level due to Hurricane Florence, eclipsing one set by Hurricane Matthew in 2016.
