Bomb Discovered on the Backside of Alabama’s Huge Creek Lake

A routine upkeep dive at an Alabama reservoir was a serious multi-agency emergency response after divers found a grenade-type improvised explosive system connected to the dam. The J.B. Converse Reservoir, a 3,600-acre physique of water also called Huge Creek Lake, serves as the only consuming water supply for roughly 350,000 individuals in and round Cell, Alabama.

The system was discovered by divers who have been conducting an ordinary survey of the Converse Reservoir Dam for routine repairs and upkeep. As soon as the IED was positioned, contractors instantly alerted the Cell County Sheriff’s Workplace, which then coordinated a sweeping multi-agency response. The Gulf Coast Regional Maritime Response and Render-Protected Crew led the retrieval effort, working alongside the FBI Bomb Squad, the Cell Police Division Explosive Ordnance Element, the Alabama Regulation Enforcement Company Bomb Squad, and the Daphne Search and Rescue Crew. Collectively, the groups analyzed the system, introduced it to the floor, and safely detonated it.

Inbuilt 1952, the Converse Reservoir holds greater than 17 billion gallons of water and sits inside a 9,000-acre buffer zone managed by the Cell Space Water and Sewer System. Seven waterways feed into the lake, together with Huge Creek, Crooked Creek, Hamilton Creek, Juniper Creek, Collins Creek, Lengthy Department, and Boggy Department, draining a surrounding watershed of roughly 104 sq. miles. The dam is classed as a excessive hazard potential construction, which means a structural failure would doubtless lead to lack of human life. Each the reservoir and dam carry a federal designation as essential infrastructure.

MAWSS Director Bud McCrory referred to as the invention “an unprecedented risk,” noting that the company was lucky the system was discovered earlier than it may injury the water provide or injure anybody. Investigators are actually working to find out how the IED ended up within the reservoir and the way lengthy it had been there, whereas the company strikes ahead with plans to extend safety across the dam.

The reservoir has had an eventful current historical past for anglers and boaters. MAWSS closed the lake to leisure boating and fishing in February 2025 over considerations about invasive species and long-term water high quality safety. Group members pushed again with a lawsuit, and Huge Creek Lake reopened to fishing in April 2026 as a part of the lawsuit settlement, although boat rental choices stay restricted to assist defend the water provide.

Keith Lusher

Keith Lusher is an award-winning outside journalist who resides in Covington, Louisiana. He owns and operates NorthshoreFishingReport.com and writes a weekly outside column for the Slidell Impartial Newspaper. He additionally writes for the St.Tammany Parish Tourism Fee’s VisitTheNorthshore.com. He’s the previous host of The Northshore Fishing Report Radio Present and is on the board of the Louisiana Outside Writers Affiliation. Keith contributes to quite a few publications each on-line and in print and prides himself on selling South Louisiana’s distinctive fishery. To contact Keith e-mail: keithlusherjr@gmail.com