KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — TVA is working to manage water flow in the Tennessee River system from rainfall as high as 6 inches that has fallen in recent days, managers said Thursday in a media briefing.
“This heavy rain in February has produced very high runoff amounts," said James Everett, senior manager of the TVA River Forecast Center in Knoxville.
Precipitation right now is equal to what the valley usually sees in all of February, according to Everett.
The high amounts are similar to what TVA dealt with last February, another heavy season.
Rainfall measures the last two days range from a couple inches to more than 6 inches, he said. Most of the Tennessee Valley area has seen 3-5 inches.
The ground already is very saturated because January was wetter than normal.
Most of the heavy rain will push through Thursday. The area may see scattered activity this weekend, and Everett cautioned more heavy rain may return to the area early next week.
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“We’re using as much storage as we can,” he said.
TVA already had cut off release of water from Cherokee, Douglas and Fontana dams to help ease pressure lower down on the TVA system, Everett said. Operations engineers will let levels build up behind the dams so long as possible to spare down-system flow.
“All that water that comes from Knoxville has to come through Watts Bar.”
Lake levels at Norris and Cherokee dams are expected to rise by 5 to 8 feet, maybe even a dozen feet, he said.
The lake water level on Fort Loudoun Lake in the Knoxville area could rise to 814 feet. The so-called summer pool level is usually at 812 to 813 feet, according to TVA.
Fort Loudoun Lake already is at or close to summer pool, which is the normal upper level to which a reservoir may be filled.
Everett said there are "unregulated" bodies of water that continue to dump into the Tennessee River. TVA can't control that flow.
Examples include the Little Pigeon River and the Little River as well as unregulated parts of the Holston and French Broach rivers.
The Emory River near Harriman also is flowing into the TVA system. It’s at about 100,000 cubic feet per second, which is about 750,000 gallons per second.
“What we have to do is keep pace with the unregulated inflows that are rushing down into these reservoirs," he said.
In the Chattanooga area, the Nickajack Gorge section of the river system is closed to commercial navigation. Also Chickamauga Lock is closed to commercial traffic because of water levels there, Everett said.
The U.S. Coast Guard and Army Corps of Engineers make that call in conjunction with TVA.
Water levels in the Chattanooga area are expected to remain below flood level.