Matt Barrentine MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) - A lake in West Mobile has disappeared. Ironically it's vanishing act was the result of record rainfall that drained Optimist's lake and flooded two homes in the process. Now neighbors off Cody road want the lake back and the drainage problem, caused by an undermined dam, solved for good. Completely empty...? Before last week's heavy rains, Optimist Lake was a pretty little lake surrounded by homes off Cody road. Now it is a brown, muddy bog filled with trash and dead fish. Marlon Brooks was looking over the damaged dam that traps the water in the lake. He said, "It looks like the water has undermined the dam out there and pretty much flooded out the woods out back out here." The Bamboo Steakhouse restaurant sits on the lake. They just started having live music on their deck on Monday nights, but owner John Nguyen is worried if folks will show up tonight. He told us, "It's going to hurt my business if I don't get this back. It's the biggest asset to our restaurant."
