VASS, N.C. (AP) — A judge has ordered the owners of a troubled dam in North Carolina to pay the state $1.1 million because of a breach.
The Fayetteville Observer reported Woodlake CC Corp. has agreed in a consent judgment filed in Moore County this month that it owes the state the cost of the breach in 2016 after Hurricane Matthew’s heavy rains.
Justice Department spokeswoman Laura Brewer said it’s too soon to say how and when Woodlake will pay.
State officials worried in 2016 the entire dam might fail and evacuated residents downstream.
The state breached the dam last year, leaving a mostly empty 1,200 acre (485 hectare) lake that was once used for boating, swimming, fishing and water skiing.
Residents are considering how they can get control of the dam and lake.
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