Here’s how close Lake Wylie is to flood level, and what’s being done to prevent it.
Lake Wylie is almost a foot above its target level, but still about two feet below flood stage amid heavy rain Thursday throughout the area.
Duke Energy sent out a public notice for all 11 of its reservoirs on the Catawba River basin on Thursday. As of 3:30 p.m., Lookout Shoals Lake, upstream of Wylie and Lake Norman, already surpassed its full pond or point when flooding begins. Lake Hickory had less than a foot of water storage remaining.
“Based on the current rainfall forecast and inflows, some lakes in the Catawba River Basin could spill,” read Thursday’s lake notice. “Because rainfall amounts can be unpredictable, it is difficult to estimate peak lake levels until the rain event concludes.”
Lakes Wylie, Norman and James are large enough in the system to where flooding there seldom occurs. The company uses its larger lakes as a buffer against flooding and moves water ahead of expected large rainfall events to keep the system from spilling.
On Wednesday, a Duke spokesperson said the company prepared for what looked like 48 hours of potential rain by moving water through the Nantahala, Catawba and Yadkin river basins.
“Since Monday, we have been proactively moving water through our lake systems and working closely with local emergency management officials who are making notifications to potentially impacted lake residents,” spokesperson Heather Danenhower said Wednesday.
Relatively low seasonal lake levels meant Duke had about twice the available storage in the upstream reservoirs of Lake Wylie. Still, flooding concern can last days even after major rains in an area if either rain or flooding continues upstream.
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