After storms dumped up to 8 inches of rain in parts of the Tennessee Valley last week, TVA increased the amount of water spilling through its 49 dams on the Tennessee River and its tributaries over the weekend.
Darrell Guinn, operations support manager at the Tennessee Valley Authority’s river forecast center, said Tuesday that most of the heavy water flow has eased back to more normal springtime levels this week. Even though more rain is forecast in the region this week, TVA is not anticipating any flooding problems or heavy river flow this week, Guinn said.
“Some of our reservoirs — Hiwassee, Fontana, Norris and Cherokee — that were behind (normal springtime levels) benefited by the rain event, and we’re holding back some of the extra water as we approach summer pool levels by June 1,” Guinn said.
So far this year, the Tennessee Valley has averaged 23.3 inches of rain across the seven-state region, or 15% more than the average for this time of year. The Tennessee Valley had six years of above-average rainfall until last year. Precipitation in Chattanooga was nearly 7.7 inches below normal in 2023, according to TVA.
— Compiled by Dave Flessner