Flooding around Charlotte was already bad as Tropical Storm Helene moved through. It will increase as Duke Energy moves water from Lake Norman through Mountain Island Lake and into Lake Wylie.
Duke Energy “needs to move large amounts of rainwater through the Catawba River System,” Charlotte-Mecklenburg Emergency Management said Friday afternoon.
Mountain Island Lake will see rising water levels and flooding late Friday afternoon and evening, according to the county. Lake Wylie in South Carolina and the Catawba River will be hit next.
The county said “all residents near the shoreline along the lakes and rivers” should take caution. A shelter for displaced residents was set up at Tuckaseegee Rec Center at 4820 Tuckaseegee Road. It remains a shelter through Sunday evening.
Some parts of the Catawba River were expected to rise higher than ever before because of Helene, The Herald reported.
Duke Energy manages Lake Norman and Lake Wylie along the river for power production. In a public alert Thursday, the company said Lake James, which sits northwest of Lake Norman, could rise 10 feet above its full pond level by Friday afternoon. By Friday morning it was five feet above its normal level.
The National Weather Service warned that Helene will “be one of the most significant weather events to happen in the western portions of the area in the modern era,” and it forecast flooding comparable to Asheville’s floods of 1916, where 80 people died and houses floated downriver.
Tree that killed 1 when Helene hit Charlotte should’ve been cut down already, neighbor says
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