Douglas Dam sets water flow record to control Hurricane Helene floods

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The Tennessee Valley Authority is releasing a record amount of water through the spillways and power turbines of Douglas Dam, where the three rivers at the epicenter of flooding in East Tennessee – the French Broad, Nolichucky and Pigeon – converge to form Douglas Lake.

The federal utility is spilling 450,000 gallons of water through the hydroelectric dam each second, TVA said in a social media post just before 1 p.m. Sept. 29. The dam, roughly 10 miles north of Sevierville and 25 miles east of Knoxville, has held stable.

Video footage shows water gushing through the dam, which impounds the French Broad River, while photos showed nearby residents watching the historic flow.

TVA’s system of dams along the Tennessee River and its tributaries has been tested by record flooding from Hurricane Helene, which drenched Western North Carolina and East Tennessee as a tropical storm, washing out interstate lanes and trapping residents as small streams in the Great Smoky Mountains suddenly became raging rivers.

The water pouring from Douglas Dam will flow down the French Broad River until it converges with the Holston River to form the Tennessee River east of downtown Knoxville. Water levels in some reservoirs reached their highest historic levels, TVA said.

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The Nolichucky Dam, a non-power producing TVA dam near Greeneville, Tennessee, was at active risk of failure beginning Sept. 27 as a record-smashing 1.3 million gallons of water poured through and over the dam each second, obscuring the dam from view. By 4 p.m. Sept. 28, TVA announced the dam was “stable and secure.”

No TVA dams were at risk of failure Sept. 29, and flood waters have been receding. Cocke County officials feared Walters Dam − also known as Waterville Dam − had failed, though the North Carolina dam held steady.

Walters Dam is owned and operated by Duke Energy.

TVA dams control record rainfall from Hurricane Helene

Some parts of TVA’s system, which covers East Tennessee and some parts of Western North Carolina, received more than 19 inches of rain from Tropical Storm Helene. Even the least rainy areas still got 4 inches in a short period of time Sept. 26-27.

As torrents of water rushed down the Smoky Mountains into valley streams, causing massive flash floods that tore through Tennessee communities like Erwin in Unicoi County and Newport in Cocke County, it eventually flowed into several TVA tributary reservoirs.

We are managing record amounts of water from the French Broad, Nolichucky, and Pigeon Rivers flowing into Douglas Dam, holding that water back to protect downstream areas like Knoxville, Lenoir City, and even Chattanooga. In a controlled manner, we are releasing a record amount… pic.twitter.com/3KiWsgDIpK

— Tennessee Valley Authority (@TVAnews) September 29, 2024

The reservoirs, like Douglas Lake and Watauga Lake, are held back by TVA dams before the water rushes into rivers and communities downstream.

“Our tributary system is doing what it’s intended to do, which is store water, provide flood protection for areas down the stream,” James Everett, general manager of TVA’s River Forecast Center, said in a video shared online. “We’re also releasing large amounts of water.”

The nation’s largest power provider has prevented $9.7 billion in flood damage across its 91-year history, especially in the flood-prone city of Chattanooga.

Daniel Dassow is a growth and development reporter focused on technology and energy. Phone 423-637-0878. Email *****@*****.tld.

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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: TVA sets Douglas Dam record after Hurricane Helene floods

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