Flood Control

Eastern NC saw major flood events in October 2016 and April 2017.  The most recent storm was centered a little west of the catastrophic rain from Hurricane Matthew.  Flooding from both of these events, however, were able to be mitigated somewhat by the presence of Falls and Jordan Lake reservoirs in the Triangle.

Both Falls and Jordan reservoirs are manmade with construction beginning in the 1970’s. In the Triangle area, these lakes receive much attention for their ole of providing drinking water to the growing region.

The largest portion of these lakes storage, however, is dedicated to flood control.  This function was in the news recently as the Army Corp had to release higher volumes of water from Falls Lake to maintain the lake’s ability to provide flood storage. While these releases do have minor flooding impacts on those near the dam, they are not as severe or extreme as flooding that would have occurred had the dams not been built.  Plus, by freeing up more flood storage, they help to mitigate the chance of extreme flooding downstream.

Lake Allocations

Falls

Jordan

Ac-Ft

% of Total Storage

Ac-ft

% Total Storage

Flood Control 221,182 62.7% 538,400 71.5%
Water Supply 45,000 12.8% 45,800 6.1%
Low Flow Augmentation 61,322 17.4% 94,600 12.6%
Sediment 25,073 7.1% 74,700 9.9%
Total Storage 352,577 100.0% 753,500 100.0%
Source: Falls -http://epec.saw.usace.army.mil/fallpert.txt

Jordan- https://deq.nc.gov/about/divisions/water-resources/planning/basin-planning/map-page/cape-fear-river-basin-landing/jordan-lake-water-supply-allocation/jordan-lake-water-supply-allocation-background-info

Jordan Lake Water Storage Allocations

 

1 Comments on “Flood Control

  1. Pingback: The Jordan Game – Watershed Investments NC

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