HIGH WATER ALERT – DEPENDING ON COMING RAINS, KERR IS DESTINED TO GET A LITTLE HIGHER UP ON THE BANKS
HIGH WATER ALERT
High water, not Hiawatha is returning in a big WAY. Recent rains, some torrential, are swelling the flood pool of John H Kerr Reservoir.
At about 307 feet above mean sea level, and that’s 7 feet above the normal full pool level, Kerr Lake is likely to rise almost another 2 feet before it crests later this week.
That is if forecasted showers and rain comes in predicted amounts according to Edward W. Woodley, P.E., U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Woodley says we can expect, “Additional light to moderate rain forecast for most of the next 7 days, totaling 1.5-2″ in the upper Roanoke Basin and 1-1.5″ in the lower Roanoke Basin.”
Conditions and forecast for Kerr Lake include:
– Currently near elevation 307 ft and rising, and expected to peak near elev 308-308.5 on Tuesday or Wednesday.
– Inflows over the weekend were higher than forecasted, with daily inflows over 90,000 cfs (Cubic Feet Per Second) on Saturday and over 105,000 cfs on Sunday. As a result, weekly average inflows are expected to be nearly 60,000 cfs for this event.
– Releases from Roanoke Rapids were stepped up to 25,000 cfs on Saturday, with an additional increase to 35,000 cfs starting tomorrow (Tuesday) as planned. These 35,000 cfs releases will be held for most or all of next week, based on these higher inflows and any additional rain during that time.
The idea of the increased releases is to lower the lake back down closer to normal levels.
Great caution, particularly at night time, should be exercised when driving secondary roads around Kerr Lake. Extreme caution needs to be observed when launching/landing a boat as some boat ramps are closed.
If riding a vessel on Kerr Lake, extreme caution should be observed as it is very common for “floaters” that is, trees and other debris, to be on the water or just under the surface making boat travel more dangerous.
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