May’s heavy rains impact Kentucky, Tennessee

Published June 23, 2010

Severe storms dumped more than 10 inches of rain in parts of Kentucky and Tennessee the first two days of May, and Nashville suffered widespread flooding when the Cumberland River left its banks.

The rains impacted low lying agricultural areas along the Green River and inundated roads and some low lying residences in Calhoun and Rumsey, Ky. Memorial Day weekend recreation plans changed for campers at Barkley, Barren, Green River, Nolin, Rough River and Cumberland lakes. Some campsites and boat ramps were closed at these Corps lakes and floating debris created hazards for boaters.

The Corps of Engineers Louisville District closely monitored releases from its lakes to not cause additional flooding for downstream communities while working to reduce the high lake levels expeditiously.

"The extremely heavy rains were unusual for this season," said Mark Philips, a hydraulic engineer for the Corps in Louisville. "Although the rains brought us close to record pools at several lakes, none of our projects reached record high levels."

As the lakes continued their work of impounding the excess water and reducing damages to downstream communities, the Corps methodically increased the release rates over a period of several days to reduce the lake levels to ready the reservoirs to accept additional rains in the future. The reservoir levels must be reduced to prepare for any major rain events for the future.

Great Lakes and Rivers Division (LRD) water management assumed direction of both Kentucky and Barkley lakes for lower Ohio and Mississippi River flood control and implemented water release plans. When the river gauge at Cairo, Ill., is forecast to exceed 40 feet, LRD assumes water management of the Kentucky-Barkley system.

The district’s emergency operations center worked hand-in-hand with the commonwealth’s emergency management during the flooding and provided information on the status of lake levels, planned releases and conditions at the Cumberland River project.

The Lebanon Junction, Ky., local flood protection project which consists primarily of an earthen levee, held firm. Due to the shear amount of rainfall, water still filled the large part of the interior ponding area. This did not adversely affect any structures in the protected area. To assist with removal of this water from this interior ponding area, the Louisville District provided pumps to Lebanon Junction during the recent flood crisis. The district had rehabilitated this project in 1997 by adding four feet in height to the levee and floodwall.

One local flood protection project along the Ohio River did not close one of their sluice gate structures in time leaving their small town vulnerable to potential flooding from the Ohio River. The district provided this project with flood fighting tools such as pumps and sandbags to minimize flood damages. All sponsors are provided with an operations manual and standard procedures to follow. As a river reaches certain trigger elevations, the manual instructs the sponsor on when to close certain gates and closures so that the project performs successfully. Fortunately, in this case, the river did not reach an elevation where flooding would have occurred inside the protected area due to the sluice gate not being closed.

"Had they been able to close the sluice gate, the amount of water would have been basically eliminated," said Christina Neutz, Louisville District levee safety subject matter expert.

"The Corps flood management systems and projects are designed to minimize damages," said Todd Hornback, Louisville district public affairs chief. "They can’t eliminate floods, so we emphasize preparedness and vigilance."