JARRETT GOODMAN
Staff Writer
James Everett, General Manager of the TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority) River Forecast Center in Knoxville, recently came forward to discuss the company’s role in mitigating flood damage during the events of Hurricane Helene.
Hurricane Helene is widely regarded as among one of the most devastating storms to make landfall on U.S. soil, with the storm causing a total of over $200 billion in damages and catastrophic flooding that decimated whole communities in Eastern Tennessee and Western North Carolina. Everett explained that prior to the storm making its way towards Tennessee and North Carolina, TVA was underway with lowering water levels across various reservoirs in East Tennessee to reduce the risk of flooding within TVA’s reservoir system .
Everett explained how in the event of major storms similar to Helene, TVA can utilize its dams to help store and control rising water levels. During the events of the hurricane, TVA utilized several of its dams to avert over $400 million in damages for various communities, including averting a potential $1.2 million in damages to South Pittsburg.
“It’s a pretty staggering amount in the amount of flood protection, and intelligence designed within the TVA Reservoir System provided during Hurricane Helene to reduce the flood capacity,” said Everett.
The TVA Reservoir System is a collection of dams and reservoirs which help play a key role managing the Tennessee River. Several dams include Chickamauga, Tims Ford, and Nickajack Dams, all three of which produce hydroelectricity and help monitor local water levels. Everett explained the system essentially functions like a staircase in the events of major flooding, meaning dams that are upstream from Marion County such as Chickamauga can greatly reduce flooding through power generation and pushback with floodgates, significantly reducing floodwaters heading downstream towards the county.
“What we do is attenuate the flood. So as water comes into Chickamauga Dam, we slow that water down and release as much of it as we can through power generation. And we carefully time the release by opening up spillway gates to control that level from Chickamauga Dam, which is then put into Nickajack Dam and is then flowed down into Guntersville,” explained Everett.
Since the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, TVA has looked ahead into ensuring more protocols and backups in communication are in place to better prepare for future storms that make landfall within the Tennessee Valley, furthering their agenda into ensuring the safety of residents within the valley.
Disclaimer: In last week’s article regarding FFVFD, it was stated that Robert Brooks is chief of the department. This statement was incorrect. We apologize for the inconvenience