Army Corps Engineers Prepping for Heavy Rainfall

The United States Army Corps of Engineers has begun preparing for heavy rainfall along the Cumberland River and two Upper Cumberland lakes.

Anthony Rodino serves as the Nashville District’s Water Management Chief.

“On the main stem of the river, we’re working to lower river stages to prepare the river to accept additional rainfall that’s going to be coming in the next five to seven days,” Rodino said. “On our storage projects, we will be looking to cut back on releases to store water to allow that local rainfall to fall on the downstream areas and move through the system.”

Rodino said the Corps of Engineers will continue monitoring the water levels of Dale Hollow and Center Hill lakes as rain makes its way through the area.

“At Dale Hollow, we’ll likely be cutting back prior to the rainfall moving through. It’s a similar idea at Center Hill,” Rodino said. “If we’re seeing that downstream areas are looking like they’re going to hit flood stage, we will work to cut back our releases from the reservoirs until the rainfall moves past and the flooding subsides, and then we will supplement with releases from our projects.”

Rodino expects most of the heavy rainfall to impact more areas upstream on the lakes rather than downstream.

“I would expect to see the stages rise in the reservoir itself and both reservoirs, actually,” Rodino said. “People should be cognizant of the situation as it develops. If they have things in low-lying areas or anything like that, they need to pay attention. As far as downstream goes, we’re not looking to increase releases as such that would be out of channel capacity.”

Rodino encourages residents near the Dale Hollow and Center Hill Lake areas to keep tabs on weather forecasts and alerts in case of an emergency.