After receiving less than expected rainfall from the remnants of Hurricane Florence, TVA planned to stop releasing water from its dams across the Tennessee Valley on Monday.
TVA stopped spilling at Fontana Dam and Cherokee Dam.
TVA helicopter crews are in North Carolina, helping survey damage and direct crews for repairs to restore electricity.
Original story
The Tennessee Valley Authority is staying one step ahead of Hurricane Florence and doing some preventative spilling at dams across the Valley, as well as sending a couple helicopters to help out in the Carolinas.
The TVA is creating some flood storage as heavy rain from Hurricane Florence is forecast to dump substantial amounts of water into the waterways that flow through our area. The hurricane is also expected to bring at least a few inches of rain into East Tennessee, as well, raising some flooding concerns.
"What we're going to pay attention to is where might that heaviest might occur, and how we may need to adjust our operations based on where that heaviest rainfall comes in," James Everett from the TVA said.
The TVA said it keeps the lake levels high this year for recreation, so it's going to offload some of that extra water at nearly all 49 TVA dams to create some room to work with, including at Ft. Loudoun and Chickamauga.
This is also the first time since 1994 that the TVA has spilled the Cherokee Dam at the Grainger and Jefferson county line.
The TVA said it wants people to be extra aware of the spilling conditions because they can create potentially dangerous waters around the dams. The TVA also urges people to generally be cautious at waters near the dams.
On Thursday, the TVA sent 80 people and two helicopters to the Carolinas to help with the recovery after Hurricane Florence. They will help get the power back on after the storm passes.
They will assist Duke Energy in storm damage assessments.