Several years ago, Montgomery County residents asked the County Council to dredge Lake Needwood, fearing development had weakened the dam.
It now appears their fears were justified.
On Thursday, thousands of Rockville residents spent a second day in emergency shelters, waiting to get the OK to return to their homes while crews worked to shore up the leaking dam.
By 10 p.m. County Chief Administrative Officer Bruce Romer said that residents were allowed to begin returning to their homes.
More than 2,200 residents in the watershed of the lake were evacuated at 3 a.m. Wednesday as the water swelled 25 feet higher than usual.
The water level has since dropped about 4 feet and has continued to recede at a rate of about 2 inches an hour, county officials said.
But some residents said the county could have prevented the evacuation if it had dredged the lake.
Rosey Poole formed the Upper Rock Creek Coalition in 2001 during the updating of the county’s Master Plan for development in the area. Part of the coalition’s purpose was to advise the county on land use near the lake, she said.
The coalition asked the County Council several times to dredge the lake, she said.
“We just kept getting blown off by the County Council,” Poole said. She lives 3 miles from the lake but was not evacuated.
The lake was dredged last in 1990, said Montgomery County Civic Association President Wayne Goldstein.
He said he also has repeatedly asked county officials to dredge the lake.
