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TVA shuts down barge traffic, opens flood gates as water rises

Chickamauga lock in Chattanooga should get another $29 million in the current fiscal year under the comprehensive spending plan up for a vote in Congress this week.
Chickamauga lock in Chattanooga should get another $29 million in the current fiscal year under the comprehensive spending plan up for a vote in Congress this week. Chickamauga lock in Chattanooga should get another $29 million in the current fiscal year under the comprehensive spending plan up for a vote in Congress this week.

By Staff Report 3 min read

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More rain is on the way Rainfall doubles region’s prior record

After a deluge of nearly a foot of rainfall in parts of the Tennessee Valley over the past week, the Tennessee River has risen above flood stage in parts of northern Alabama and lake levels in TVA’s upstream reservoirs have jumped by up to 20 feet – and could rise another 10 feet from rains predicted today through Wednesday.

The Tennessee Valley Authority, which manages the 652-mile Tennessee River and its tributaries, has opened flood gates on all of its nine mainstream dams on the Tennessee River and is holding back water in its upstream storage reservoirs.

“We’re managing all of this water as best we can,” TVA spokesman Travis Brickey said today. “We’re in flood control mode working with the Army Corps of Engineers.”‘

The increased water flow has shut down barge traffic through Chattanooga and boosted the river level in Chattanooga by 7 feet from last Wednesday until today. Although still seven feet below flood level at the Market Street Bridge in downtown Chattanooga, TVA has opened all 10 floodgates at the Chickamauga Dam, where 107,000 cubic feet per second (or more than 802,000 gallons of water per second) are flowing through the dam and the hydroelectric turbines that generate power at the dam. The river is expected to rise another 2 feet in Chattanooga, according to TVA projections.