Duke Energy says it will move Helene rainwater from NC to SC, causing shoreline flooding

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Flooding around Charlotte was already bad as Tropical Storm Helene moved through. It will increase as Duke Energy moves water from Lake Norman through Mountain Island Lake and into Lake Wylie.

Duke Energy “needs to move large amounts of rainwater through the Catawba River System,” Charlotte-Mecklenburg Emergency Management said Friday afternoon.

Mountain Island Lake saw rising water levels and flooding Friday evening when the floodgates at Cowan’s Ford Dam opened around 7 p.m., according to the county. Lake Wylie in South Carolina and the Catawba River will be hit next. The county issued an overnight advisory at 7:45 p.m. Friday warning floodwaters will continue to rise, even without rain, as water moves from Lake Norman to Lake Wylie.

Duke Energy started moving water through rivers and lakes as soon as heavy rain was forecast, said communications manager Logan Stewart. Helene, though, exceeded those forecasts. Despite pre-storm attempts to make room for rainfall, the lakes got too full. The excess water has to go somewhere, Stewart said.

It has to go downstream.

The county said “all residents near the shoreline along the lakes and rivers” should take caution. A shelter for displaced residents was set up at Tuckaseegee Recreation Center at 4820 Tuckaseegee Road. It remains a shelter through Sunday evening.

Residents at Riverside Drive areas are being evacuated as water continues to rise Friday morning, Sept. 27, 2024.

Some parts of the Catawba River were expected to rise higher than ever before because of Helene, The Herald reported.

Duke Energy manages Lake Norman and Lake Wylie along the river for power production. In a public alert Thursday, the company said Lake James, which sits northwest of Lake Norman, could rise 10 feet above its full pond level by Friday afternoon. By Friday morning, it was five feet above its normal level.

The National Weather Service had warned that Helene would “be one of the most significant weather events to happen in the western portions of the area in the modern era,” and it forecast flooding comparable to Asheville’s floods of 1916, where 80 people died and houses floated downriver.

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