Five Catawba River lakes could flood for several days. Here’s how high Lake Wylie is.
Lake Wylie remains insulated from flooding thus far as heavy rain falls throughout the Catawba River basin. Other reservoirs haven’t been as steady.
Prolonged rain that has flash flood warnings in place throughout the region brought Mountain Island Lake to beyond its flood level Tuesday. As of 9 a.m. Wednesday morning, Mountain Island Lake was more than a foot above its spilling point.
Mountain Island Lake is the drinking water source for Charlotte, the nearest upstream reservoir to Lake Wylie in the 11-lake system managed by Duke Energy.
Duke urged extreme caution in and around area lakes in a public notification specific to Mountain Island Lake. The company noted continued rain the next three days could raise lake levels throughout the system. Mountain Island could end up at more than two feet above its full pond.
The headwaters at Lake James rose to less than a foot from its flood point Wednesday morning, as did Fishing Creek Lake and Cedar Creek-Rocky Lake downstream of Wylie in Chester County.
Just two of the 11 reservoirs were below their target levels for this time of year, and it isn’t by accident. Lake Wylie and Lake Norman each were inches below target and at least a couple of feet below their full pond. Duke ran water out of its system ahead of the expected storms this week to make room for rainfall.
James, Norman and Wylie are the largest reservoirs and either run or hold water to balance out the entire chain to prevent flooding.
Heavy rain on creeks, streams, river runs and Lake Wylie itself isn’t just a product of rain that falls in York County or even the three counties surrounding the lake. Rainfall throughout the Catawba basin can impact it.
A flash flood watch remains in place for York, Lancaster and Chester counties along with numerous counties and municipalities in the basin from western North Carolina to Piedmont South Carolina.
The National Weather Service forecasts another round of heavy rain Wednesday morning into afternoon, with embedded thunderstorms later in the day and into Thursday. Widespread rain is expected in the region from two to four inches. Landslide and debris flows even are possible Wednesday in the Blue Ridge area with so much rain having fallen already.
Flash flood watches remain in place until 8 a.m. Thursday. According to the watch notice, the threat of flooding could extend a little past the period of heavy rainfall.
“Rapid rises above bankfull on streams and creeks may occur, along with the threat of flooded roadways in embedded thunderstorms or pockets of higher rainfall rates,” the notice says. “Main stem river flooding may develop as well during the mid week period, and perhaps persist through late week or longer, especially along the Catawba River channel where longer duration, significant flooding will be possible.”
From Monday afternoon to early Wednesday, the weather service reports almost three inches of rain fell in the Rock Hill area.
At 2 p.m. Wednesday, Duke put out another notice that multiple lakes would start or continue to spill.
“Given current conditions and forecasts, Lake James, Lake Rhodhiss, Lookout Shoals Lake, Mountain Island Lake and Lake Wateree are expected to continue spilling, or begin spilling, in the next 24 hours, and will continue spilling for the next several days as water is moved through the lakes,” it reads.
Lake Wylie reached its target level as of 2 p.m., still three feet below full pond.
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This story was originally published May 20, 2020 at 10:51 AM.
