(SEVIERVILLE, Tenn.) SMOKIES.LIVE – Just drive around, near or over any of the lakes in East Tennessee and you can see signs of the drought we are in.
TVA said we are about 69% of normal on rain. James Everett, General Manager of River Operations said lack of rain is making it more difficult to fill the lakes for the summer recreation season.
“We’re falling behind in many areas and not seeing lake levels fill up to their target levels,” Everett said.
Actual rainfall for the calendar year through May 3 is 13.04 inches. Normal is 18.72 inches. TVA said, the big number is runoff. TVA has recorded 5.83 inches of runoff system wide. Normal is 12.92 inches. So, we are at 45% of normal runoff.
“Even with drought conditions, we still have a lot of water in our reservoirs. We encourage people to get out and use these resources, we courage them to do it safely,” he added. “They may be little lower if they go to a certain area of a reservoir, those conditions maybe shallower than in previous years.”
Everett added that there’s severe drought in every corner of the Tennessee Valley. That’s affecting levels on the main channels of Fort Loudoun and Watts Bar Lake.
It will take several days to see if the rainfall on Wednesday was enough to help with the drought and filling lakes to summer pool.
2 Responses
Wow , what are they gonna do?
Pray for Rain.