The Tennessee Valley Authority is telling the public to stay off Douglas Lake near Dandridge as it prepares to deploy a 4,000-foot floating barrier to catch a one-square-mile patch of debris from Hurricane Helene’s floodwaters.
Douglas, a reservoir in Jefferson and Sevier counties, caught a bulk of debris that washed through the French Broad, Nolichucky and Pigeon rivers . The rivers, which begin in North Carolina, traced devastation through East Tennessee on Sept. 27 before flowing into the reservoir.
The large field of floating debris on Douglas Lake is in the north section of the reservoir, near where the three rivers flow in. As of Oct. 2, the debris patch was one-square-mile large and moving one mile a day downstream toward Douglas Dam, TVA said in a news release.
Helene debris in Douglas Lake could be hazardous
The boom, a floating barrier that captures surface and submerged debris in bodies of water, is one of the largest deployed in TVA’s history.
The barrier across the lake is meant to protect water supply intakes and other infrastructure downstream.