With the record rains of the last week, reservoirs levels are high and many dams in the TVA system are spilling water, creating potentially dangerous conditions for heedless recreational users.
TENNESSEE VALLEY— No doubt about it: It’s been a rainy week. With all the precipitation, records for rainfall and runoff have been broken, and TVA is racing to outpace the water and manage flooding across the system. Much hydropower generation is happening throughout the Valley, and many dams are spilling—that is, releasing water through the top of the dam to move it downriver. Wilson Dam in Florence has more than 750,000 gallons of water per second flowing through the spillways causing the water level to rise. The current is also stronger because of this excess water flow and TVA is urging boaters to stay off the Tennessee River because spillways rapidly flowing water.
Dams routinely spill at rates of around a million gallons per second; Kentucky Dam today is spilling a rate of 2.3 million gallons per second. This creates hazardous conditions for recreational lake users—particularly those who willfully ignore horns and lights and signs meant to warn them away from certain danger and even potential deadly situations. (To read more about the warning systems in place near dams, click here.)
“There is a lot of water moving through the system at a pretty good clip now, and I think that many people just don’t understand the tremendous power that water has,” says Todd Peney, director of TVA Police. “We’re seeing situations in which people are ignoring our warning systems, thinking that they can handle the water or that they know better, and that can lead to disaster.”
In Peney’s mind, there’s no reason to tackle a raging river, period. “There is no fish in the world worth taking the risk for,” he says. “That’s a dangerous gamble you’re taking.”
Be smart, be safe. Pay attention to water warnings. And always heed alarms when you’re in the water near dams.
Media Release/Tennessee Valley Authority
