No Heavy Rain From Florence Keep Dam Spillways Closed

Tropical Depression Florence had little effect on Lake Hartwell’s levels, dropping only about a half-inch of rain into the lake over the weekend.

Last week, the Corps of Engineers Hartwell Project office was bracing for up to 7 inches of rain Saturday and Sunday, which would have pushed levels at Hartwell Dam towards flood stage.

But most of Northeast Georgia only received about a quarter to a half-inch of rain from Florence.

Still as of Monday, Hartwell’s level was up a foot to 661.17 ft mean sea level while Lakes Russell and Thurmond remained slightly below full pool.

Aaron Wahus, Operations Project Manager says the plan is to still continue to run more water through turbines at Harwell Dam to bring the lake level down.

“There’s a lot of capacity within the system to hold water. So we’re going to try to pass as much as we can through the generators to produce power. Opening the spillway gates is the last thing we want to do,” he said.

Run-off from the Tugalo and Seneca Rivers could raise the lake level slightly higher.

However, Wahus said Lakes Thurmond and Russell have plenty of storage capacity.