KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Representatives from the TVA River Forecast Center said on Friday that although the rain has stopped in East Tennessee, water levels remain high along the Tennessee River, and there is still a risk for flooding.
TVA stressed that even after days of rain, East Tennessee is nowhere near where they were at this point in 2019 during flooding.
On a conference call Friday, TVA said it began to release water from dams back into the Tennessee River on Friday.
Earlier this week, TVA cut off the release of water from the Cherokee, Douglas, Norris and Fontana dams to help ease pressure lower down on the TVA system. Operations engineers let levels build up behind the dams during the middle of the week to spare down-system flow.
Following heavy rain, TVA said the Tennessee River fell by about two feet from Thursday into Friday.
According to the National Weather Service, flood stage on the Tennessee River in Knoxville is 820 feet. As of 1 p.m. Friday, NWS said the river sat at 814 feet, down from 816 feet on Thursday.
TVA said although more rain is expected next week, that doesn’t necessarily mean that flooding concerns will be high. TVA said it depends on how the weather is from where water flows from.
Concerns for flooding, according to TVA, are heightened when there is heavy rain in the mountains of North Carolina since that is where the water will then flow from into the Tennessee River.
TVA said it is monitoring potential rainfall for next week and is taking appropriate steps to prepare.