Tenn. dam bursts, damaging homes

A retention pond wall collapsed yesterday at a Tennessee power plant run by the nation's largest public utility. (Knoxville News Sentinel via Associated Press)

HARRIMAN, Tenn. - An earthen dam holding back a retention pond broke early yesterday at a power plant run by the nation's largest public utility, releasing a frigid mix of water, ash, and mud that damaged 12 homes and put hundreds of acres of rural land under water.

The 40-acre pond was used by the Tennessee Valley Authority to hold a slurry of ash generated by the coal-burning Kingston Steam Plant in Harriman, about 50 miles west of Knoxville, said authority spokesman Gil Francis.

The dam gave way just before 1 a.m., burying a road and railroad tracks leading to the plant under several feet of dark gray mud.

Authorities said no one was seriously injured or hospitalized.

Investigators were trying to determine exactly what caused the breach, but the TVA spokesman said heavy rains and freezing temperatures may be to blame. Forecasters said the overnight temperature dropped to 14 degrees in Harriman and Francis said there had been 4.9 inches of rain this month so far compared with 2.8 inches in a typical December.

"I am still in shock," said Crystell Flinn, 49, whose ranch-style house was pushed off its foundations and driven more than 30 feet onto a road. "I don't think it really has hit me yet."

"I seriously doubt they will let us" rebuild, Flinn said. After losing another house on the same property to fire 20 years ago, "I am not sure we want to," she said. "The next time we might not make it out."

ASSOCIATED PRESS