“Rains this weekend could cause us problems if we’re not careful,” said David Barr, spokesman for the Army Corps of Engineers, which manages the lake and dam. “It’s getting better. It won’t be over until we can get the lake down to its normal level.”
The lake level peaked at 639.26 above mean sea level, which is 0.64 feet below the record elevation of 639.9 in May 2003. Because rain is in the forecast, releases from the dam are expected to remain at the current level near 55,000 cubic feet per second, although the corps will continue to watch the lake and lower releases as inflows and lake levels fall in the next week.
The LaGrange-Troup County Chamber of Commerce’s West Point Lake committee was effusive Friday in its praise of the corps’ management of the lake during the flooding event.
Trouble began last weekend with reports of up to 18 inches of rain in parts of metro Atlanta, and West Point was “full,” at 635 feet. Unlike the 2003 flood, knowing water would be coming south gave the corps time to release water from the lake, mitigating much of the potential damage.
The U.S. Geologic Survey, which monitors floods and droughts, called this event a “500-year flood,” said Troup County engineer James Emery. The distinction means floods like this are likely happen only once every 500 years. The last storm of record was in 1919, and this flood shattered those records.
“We’ve had significant water in the basin we’re not used to seeing,” said Joe Maltese, point-man on the lake for the city of La-Grange.
“The lake did what it was supposed to do,” he said. When lakes on the Chattahoochee River were planned, “it was supposed to have a levee system and two more dams. The corps took a 500-year flood and managed it in an impressive way.”
The lake committee plans to draft a letter to corps leaders, thanking the corps for its management of the flood.
At 4 p.m. Friday, the river was at 18.9 feet and nearly steady. Flood stage is 17 feet. Moderate flooding is forecast until late Sunday.
West Point City Park did flood, and the city’s police department evacuated to higher ground on the tech center, but water didn’t make it downtown as it did in 2003.
The city remained under a flood warning through Saturday. and the river level was expected to remain around 19 feet, 2 feet above flood stage. In 2003, the Chattahoochee at West Point rose to 22.3 feet.
Jennifer Shrader may be reached at jshrader@ lagrangenews.com or at (706) 884-7311, Ext. 236.
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