Lakeless in Boiling Spring Lakes: city’s hopes of summer on the water dried up

BOILING SPRING LAKES, NC (WWAY) — Hope for a summer on the water is drying up for Boiling Spring Lakes residents as the city gets ready to enter its third year of dried lake beds.

Residents, like Joan Kinney say Boiling Spring Lakes hasn’t been the same since Hurricane Florence, filled with craters instead of its namesakes.

“I tell everybody we live on a meadow instead of a lake.”

Local and business owner, Rob Warner says the summer days are a lot quieter than he remembers them.

“We’d swim there,” Warner said. “Fish, boat. That was the only lake in the city that you could have a gas powered engine on. Not anymore though.”

September of 2018, Hurricane Florence sat over the Cape Fear for days. It rained so much, five dams gave way, and the town’s namesake left Boiling Spring Lakes high and dry.

“And when the water went out,” Warner remembered, “it went out quick. It was within minutes and it was gone.”

Since them, Warner says the lakeless city has been down on it’s luck. He owns The Office Coffee Shop, and remembers when folks used eat lunch on the patio overlooking the lake. Now, they tend to eat indoors or take it to go rather than sit by what used to be the heart of the city.

“It’s the centerpiece of the city. The main road goes right over it and now you see, its savannah, not lakes.”

The city lobbied North Carolina and FEMA, securing just over $17 million and potentially $12 million in additional help to rebuild four of its major dams. They submitted plans to FEMA last December, but weren’t approved.

According to interim city manager, Mike Hargrett, “The dams needed to be replaced at a higher standard, and so that initial work had to be redone and redesigned.”

With that setback along with the pandemic, Boiling Spring Lakes lost and entire year of rebuilding. If approved this year, the city will begin construction of the dams in December. It’s expected to take at least three years.

“Well nobody’s real happy,” lakefront property owner, Kinney continued. “You know. We would have liked to have seen it happen faster. But there’s just a lot of hoops to climb through.”

Kinney’s favorite part of owning a lakefront home was the constant activity, hearing friends and family jetski and swim over the summer. Though that sound has been replaced with an eerie silence, she still has hope the lakes will return in her lifetime.

“It’s the centerpiece of the city. Was. But it will be again.”