***UPDATE as of March 4, 2019 9:28 a.m.***
Public safety officials were able to speak to someone at the Carter’s Dam powerhouse this morning. According to the contact there a release will begin around noon today and continue through the week. As of right now they are planning a smaller release than originally scheduled. The prior plan called for 10,000 cubic foot per second (cfs) and it has been lowered to 5300 cfs. This could change and if it does we have been told we will receive an update.
Original Post on March 1, 2019 at 11:27 a.m.
Gordon County is passing along information that was received this morning from the Army Corps of Engineers in reference to Carter’s Lake:
Sometime on Sunday, March 3rd or Monday, March 4th there will be a large release of water from Carter’s Lake. Also on Sunday, Gordon County is predicted to receive over an inch of rain from a system that will be moving through our area. The combination of these two along with all the rain already received and the ground being saturated could cause flooding within our county. Through historical data it appears this will be almost exactly the same amount of water that was released in December of 2015 which did lead to flooding in Gordon County.
With this release and the additional rainfall we are expecting creeks and rivers to potentially rise quickly. Please stay aware of this as we go through the weekend and early next week. As we have been saying for several weeks now please do not drive through water over roadways and never go around barricades that are put up for your protection. Turn around, don’t drown!
We will pass along updates as they become available. Stay safe, stay ready, stay prepared.
Courtney Taylor, Director
Gordon County Emergency Management
