Published: Tuesday, Feb. 02, 2010 / Updated: Tuesday, Feb. 02, 2010 11:50 AM
Waters subside, but experts cautious
LAKE WYLIE --
By Monday morning the threat of reaching flood levels along the Catawba River basin subsided to the point where only one lake peaked past its spilling point as Lake Wylie sits 4 feet below its limit. Yet, experts warn, the threat of flooding is not over yet.
Early last week, precipitation throughout the more than 200-mile river basin caused flooding on several lakes and water levels brought to the tipping point on others. Lake Wateree, south of Lake Wylie, topped out at more than two feet above its capacity and overflowed six days, including Monday morning. Lake Rhodhiss, Lookout Shoals and Mountain Island Lake – all north of Lake Wylie – overflowed by up to 3 feet. Lake Wylie capped Jan. 25 at just 2 inches below its full pond, or the point where flooding begins to occur, the highest mark in the past 13 months.
“Earlier in the week, we had a significant rain event that caused high water conditions along the Catawba River,” said Andy Thompson, spokesman for Duke Energy, on Friday. “Several lakes had levels above full pond, and low-lying flood-prone areas saw some flooding as a result.”
Duke manages the Catawba system, and opened a flood gate last week to allow more water to pass through the system. Rock Hill resident Steve Swanson said he drove out early last week to a fishing area below the Lake Wylie Dam, where there is an island in the river.
“They put in two new fishing piers, and they were both underwater,” he said.
Swanson also reported a “large standing wave.”
“The river’s going so fast it’s creating its own waves,” he said. “It’s just really high and really fast.”
By Monday press time only Wateree remained above full pond. Wylie dropped to 4 feet below its max and one foot below its target level. Still, with the recent winter weather meaning melting snow, leaves Duke cautious.
“We have been able to move a significant amount of water from the upper Catawba River basin through our 11 lakes over the past few days, but continue to experience lake levels higher than normal on a few lakes, especially on the smaller lakes such as Lookout Shoals and Mountain Island Lake,” Thompson said. “With this added precipitation, we could see lake levels rise once again.”
The company released another message Monday, saying Lake Wylie lake levels are stable, however, as a result of forecast rain and winter weather, lake levels are expected to remain high, with a high probability for flooding to occur in low-lying and flood-prone areas for up to 14 days.
Duke urges not only people along the lake to keep an eye on water levels, but people along creeks and streams, too.
“It’s not just the lakes,” he said. “A lot of times, it’s creeks and tributaries that feed the lakes.”
For more information, call 1-800-829-5253 or visit duke-energy.com and search “lake levels.”
Lake Wylie Pilot is pleased to be able to offer its users the opportunity to make comments and hold conversations online. However, the interactive nature of the internet makes it impracticable for our staff to monitor each and every posting.
Since Lakewyliepilot.com does not control user submitted statements, we cannot promise that readers will not occasionally find offensive or inaccurate comments posted on our website. In addition, we remind anyone interested in making an online comment that responsibility for statements posted lies with the person submitting the comment, not Lake Wylie Pilot.
If you find a comment offensive, clicking on exclamation icon will flag the comment for review by the administrators, we are counting on the good judgment of all our readers to help us.