Lake Shawnee Evacuation Short Lived

Jefferson officials had ordered a mandatory evacuation for all lake front property owners at Lake Shawnee and residents of Venetian Drive, however, within hours, residents were allowed to return to their homes.

The Saffin Pond dam, which has been under construction for the past couple of months, gave way on Sunday morning, its waters flowing into Lake Shawnee, which was already high due to the extreme rain totals. This led to the decision to evacuate. Approximately two hours later, according to Jefferson Police Sgt. Paul Castimore, residents were allowed to return to their homes.

"The imminent threat is over," Castimore said. "After the original surge, the water appears to be flowing normally."

However, some residents planned to stay through the evacuation orders.

“We made it through the flood of 2000, and we had 27 inches of water in our house then,” said Loralee Schiff, a Venetian Drive resident. “We’ve moved everything we can up from the first to the second story, and we’ll just see how things go as the afternoon goes on.”

Evacuees were temporarily housed at Camp Jefferson.