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Last edited by Bearcat (talk | contribs) 45 days ago. (Update) |
 | |
| Date | 27 September 2024 |
|---|---|
| Time | Before 2:56 p.m. (EST) |
| Duration | 27 September 2024 - ongoing (flooding) |
| Location | Haywood County, North Carolina; Cocke County, Tennessee |
| Also known as | Waterville Dam collapse |
| Type | Catastrophic failure |
| Cause | Significant rainfall caused by remnants of Hurricane Helene |
 | This section documents a dam failure. Information may change rapidly as the event progresses, and initial news reports may be unreliable. The latest updates to this section may not reflect the most current information. (September 2024) |
The Walters Dam failure refers to the catastrophic failure of the Walters Dam (also referred to as the Waterville Dam) in Haywood County, North Carolina on 27 September 2024, and the subsequent drastic flash flooding of the Pigeon River and settlements downstream of the dam, such as Hartford, TN, and Newport, TN, the county seat of Cocke County. The failure of the dam was caused by exceptional rainfall across the southern Appalachian mountain range generated from the remnants of Hurricane Helene.
Background
editAs a result of prominent flooding across eastern Tennessee as a result of Hurricane Helena, the Cocke County Emergency Management Agency issued a statement for residents in the area:[1]
Please do not call central dispatch or E-911 unless experiencing an emergency. We are aware of road conditions and are actively working to place signage in affected areas. Road conditions are impassable at this time. Please shelter in place or go to a family or friends home. If you are displaced, please go to either of our emergency shelters located at the Newport Community Center at 426 Cosby Highway Newport TN, or Liberty Church of Cosby at 3541 Cosby Highway Cosby TN.
— Cocke County Emergency Management Agency
Dam failure
editAt 2:56 p.m. EST, Mayor of Cocke County Rob Mathis posted a statement on his Facebook page reporting the catastrophic failure of the Walters Dam:[1][2]
"THE WATERVILLE DAM HAS SUFFERED A CATASTROPHIC FAILURE. EVACUATION ALL OF DOWNTOWN NEWPORT IMMEDIATELY."
— Rob Mathis, Facebook
About a half-hour after his initial statement at 3:24 p.m, Mathis issued a state of emergency for Cocke County.[1][2]
The Morristown National Weather Service issued a Flash Flood Emergency for the settlements along Pigeon River, which included Cocke County seat Newport and Hartford, stated that 20,017 people could potentially be impacted by life-threatening flooding, along with four schools and one hospital.[3]
Flooding
editRiver level probes recorded by United States National Water Prediction Service at the Pigeon River by Newport indicated that at 3:00 p.m. EST, immediately following the dam failure, water levels reached 26.17 feet, over twice as high as the highest "Major" warning level for the location at 12 feet.[4]
Responses
editMultiple inmates of Cocke County Jail were evacuated from the jail to the Cocke County Courthouse located on higher ground.[3]
References
edit- ^ a b c Moore, Hannah (27 September 2024). "Downtown Newport ordered to evacuate after Waterville Dam fails". WREG. Retrieved 27 September 2024.
- ^ a b Lewis, Kaitlin (2024-09-27). "Tennessee's Waterville Dam suffers "catastrophic failure": What we know". Newsweek. Retrieved 2024-09-27.
- ^ a b "'State of Emergency' || Downtown Newport being evacuated after 'catastrophic failure' of dam in Waterville, NC; Flash Flood Emergency issued". wbir.com. 2024-09-27. Retrieved 2024-09-27.
- ^ "Pigeon River at Newport". NOAA. Archived from the original on 27 September 2024. Retrieved 27 September 2024.