U.S. Army Corps of Engineers prepare for possible water accumulation in Nashville
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Tuesday was a soggy day in Nashville with at least one inch of rain accumulating. According to the forecast, even more rain is anticipated for Wednesday and Saturday.
As a result, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is bracing for potential water accumulation in Middle Tennessee, placing the area under a 'Level 3 – Watch' status to manage potential flooding
Significant rainfall could help clear out drought conditions in Middle TN
Over the next couple of days, the agency will determine whether to move into 24/7 operations. However, an engineer with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers told News 2 they have already started to prepare for the upcoming rains that could impact Nashville's rivers, lakes and dams.
'Saturday is really what has gotten our attention, ' said Robert Dillingham, hydraulic engineer in the Water Management Section of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Nashville District). 'So we are sort of pulling our levers, if you will, on the dams, and we are going to cut back discharge a whole lot starting tomorrow and even more Friday into Saturday.'
'If this rain doesn't materialize, it could've been, you know, we really didn't need to cut back our upstream tributary reservoir projects, but I would rather do it and not have needed to as opposed to not do it and needed to,' he added.
VIDEO: Lawrence County first responders rescue Amish driver, horse from floodwaters
The agency plans to cut the water flow from Wolf Creek, Dell Hollow and J. Percy Priest Lake.
'You're looking at an extra 30,000 – 40,000 cubic feet per second that we are going to reduce per second upstream in the next few days that we are going to take out of the river, that without our projects would be in the river at the height of this rainfall event on Saturday,' Dillingham explained.
As these lakes behind the dams collect more water, storage reservoir levels are anticipated to rise before slowly being released after the rains end.
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Lakes like Cordell Hull Lake and Old Hickory Lake, which aren't designed to hold back flood waters, have already been lowered to make space for excessive rainfall.
'Somewhere like Old Hickory, we generally fluctuate the pool one to two feet on an annual basis. Now you get heavy rain, it may be up to theoretically 5 to 7 feet in an annual year for the lake fluctuation,' Dillingham concluded.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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