On August 28, 2011, after receiving as much as of rainfall from Hurricane Irene, the Gilboa Dam was placed in a level B situation. Though the dam was intact, the heavy upstream rainfall from the hurricane prompted officials to issue an evacuation order for downstream residents, including a mandatory evacuation of the towns of Middleburgh and Schoharie. The evacuation order was due to the heavy rainfall and not due to a dam failure. After a minor earthquake on August 27, 2011 was recorded in the region and in response to the 2011 Virginia earthquake which occurred on August 23, 2011 and was felt as far north as Canada, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo ordered an infrastructure inspection which included the Gilboa Dam. Governor Cuomo visited the dam on the morning of August 28, 2011 to report that officials had discovered no impacts to the dam from recent seismic activity.