Water (89)
Updated Oct. 12: Helene: Recovery grinds along in Smokies, multiple major watersheds; questions arise about fate of Pigeon River sediment pollutants; major disaster averted at Waterville
Written by T. Fraser, JJ Stambaugh, P. Penland and W. Naegeli
Two weeks after epic floods, a far cry from normalcy; utility repairs continue; Del Rio still reels; Hot Springs limps; outpouring of help and mountain grit as battered communities take stock
This story will be updated.
The original story and updates continue below. We have been adding more images, videos, links, live or interactive graphs and specifics to our earlier reporting and updates.
GATLINBURG — Great Smoky Mountains National Park staff continue to assess the damage sustained by the country’s most-visited national park during Tropical Storm Helene. (The storm was at tropical storm strength when it struck the mountains Sept. 26-27, prompting a rare tropical-storm warning for Western North Carolina).
The Cataloochee and Big Creek areas on the North Carolina side in Haywood County were particularly hard-hit, and significant damage was reported to park cultural resources and road and bridge infrastructure. Those areas remain closed. Most roads and trails on the Tennessee side of the national park are open. Cataloochee is a valuable tourist draw during the fall rutting season of elk populations successfully reintroduced to the park in the 1990s.
Here’s an update from the National Park Service:
“The park experienced substantial damage, particularly in North Carolina, including Balsam Mountain, Big Creek and Cataloochee Valley.
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Updated Oct. 2: Helene hits the mountains: Death toll nears 200; factory scrutinized after worker deaths in Erwin; major roads and railroad links still cut; massive recovery underway; havoc in So. Appalachians
Written by T. Fraser, JJ Stambaugh; P. Penland and W. NaegeliHelene fallout continues; hundreds still missing; at least 60 dead in NC; flooding and wind damage still widespread in Southern Appalachians; National Guard in action; land access, supplies, communications, water and power still spotty
This story will be updated.
The original story and updates continue below.
We have been adding more images, videos, links, live or interactive graphs and specifics to earlier updates, too. So, keep scrolling to glean them after touching the More… button. You may want to bookmark some of the interactive features for your own present and future use.
ERWIN — The death toll from Hurricane Helene climbed to at least 180 people on Wednesday, making it the deadliest hurricane to hit the United States in 50 years with the exception of Hurricane Katrina, which claimed over 1,800 lives in 2005 in what was also a largely impoverished area.
In one-hard hit community in the mountains of northeast Tennessee, emotions grew high as Spanish-speaking family of missing loved ones accused first responders through an interpreter of showboating, classism and preferential rescues during a tense press conference broadcast live on X.
The mounting death toll and increasingly fruitless searches came as millions of people spent their sixth day without running water or power and an ad hoc army of first responders, volunteers and National Guard troops struggled to deliver life-saving supplies to communities throughout the Southern Appalachians that were cut off by the record breaking flash floods spawned by the storm.
In Erwin, a town of 6,000 in Unicoi County, officials confirmed that a criminal investigation had been launched into the conduct of a manufacturing company that was accused of forcing employees to keep working even as floodwaters rose to dangerous levels.
The alleged decision by the management team at Impact Plastics led to the deaths of at least two employees while four others remain missing, and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) has been tasked with determining whether there’s enough evidence of wrongdoing to warrant criminal charges.
“At the request of First Judicial District Attorney General Steve Finney, TBI agents are investigating allegations involving Impact Plastics,” said TBI spokesperson Leslie Earhart in an e-mail exchange with Hellbender Press.
Earhart referred questions to Finney, who said “there will be no further comment from my office … until the investigation is complete.”
According to the company — which denied any wrongdoing — five employees and one contractor were lost while trying to leave the facility on Friday.
“When water began to cover the parking lot and the adjacent service road, and the plant lost power, employees were dismissed by management to return to their homes in time for them to escape the industrial park,” said a company press release. “At no time were employees told that they would be fired if they left the facility …. While most employees left immediately, some remained on or near the premises for unknown reasons.”
Several workers tried to escape the premises on a truck but were swept away when the vehicle overturned, according to the company.
“We are devastated by the tragic loss of great employees,” said Gerald O'Connor, who founded the company in Erwin in 1987. “Those who are missing or deceased, and their families are in our thoughts and prayers.”
A Spanish-speaking woman clutching a blown-up photo of a missing relative blasted Unicoi County Emergency Manager Jim Erwin through an interpreter.
“My daughter was screaming ‘help, help,’ but the people in the hospital were a bigger priority than she was. I want my daughter! I want my daughter,” she implored in Spanish, referencing the water and air evacuation of Unicoi Hospital on Friday morning.
Officials responded that the Unicoi County 911 dispatch center had received multiple requests for a timeline of Sept. 27 911 calls. They assured her the search continued, and that Erwin had visited with family of all the known missing.
Erwin, who said he was among those trapped at the hospital, appeared flustered for a moment at the woman’s insistent quest for answers, noting that the discussion, practically speaking, was not helping locate her missing daughter.
“If I was white and rich you would be looking for me,” the mother cried through the interpreter. “Labor workers never matter to you, because they work in a factory.”
Migrant laborers live throughout northeast Tennessee, working mainly in the agricultural and manufacturing sectors. Many have very limited resources, and already live within some of the poorest counties in the state.
Officials said Wednesday that Hurricane Helene killed 91 people in North Carolina, 36 in South Carolina, 25 in Georgia, 17 in Florida, 9 in Tennessee, and 2 in Virginia.
In Newport, the county seat of hard-hit Cocke County about 45 minutes east of Knoxville on I-40, hundreds of people lined up in parking lots or flocked to grocery stores in a desperate scramble to secure the basic necessities of survival.
As is often the case in such disasters, the storm was a vivid reminder of the value of being prepared for the unexpected.
The Jenkins family, who lives in the rural Cocke County community of Bybee, said the floods developed so quickly that most residents didn’t have enough time to prepare and those who did still weren’t fully prepared for such a powerful deluge.
“The aftermath was something out of an adventure or post-apocalyptic film,” said Tiffany Jenkins, who lives on Knob Creek Road with her husband, Steve, and his two children from a previous marriage.
“Cars standing on their front ends, bridges completely washed out, and no safe route to or from civilization,” she said. “Finding ways out of town was almost impossible in itself, even with intimate knowledge of the area and typical flood zones. The problem is this was not a typical flood.”
Most Cocke County residents are still without clean water thanks to damage to the area’s water treatment plant. The Jenkins, however, are grateful to have resources that allowed them to ride out the storm and even help their neighbors in the aftermath.
“Luckily, my family has well water, which allows us to fill jugs of water for our friends and anyone else who needs it who could get to us but couldn’t get to Newport, where they were giving away free supplies,” she said.
“My family bought a used generator we could not afford because emergency services warned us to be prepared to be without electricity for a week or longer, though the power outage only lasted about 24 hours for us personally.”
She added: “The big problem was, and still remains, the lack of city water services.”
According to the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency (TEMA), Cocke was one of 21 counties experiencing problems due to storm damage to their water treatment stations, 17 of which had been forced to issue Boil Water advisories.
Officials from TVA said that all dams in the affected region had been inspected and “were secure and stable.”
During the storm, the most severe crisis faced by TVA was the potential failure of the Nolichucky Dam, prompting authorities to repeatedly warn people living downstream about the potential for a cataclysmic dam failure.
“TVA’s River Forecast Center is monitoring all other tributaries in the impacted areas, where rivers are gradually returning to normal levels. The team is also working to manage downstream reservoirs, which are rising. TVA’s focus is on preventing additional flooding and moving water through the system to recover reservoir storage,” a statement posted on TVA’s website website said.
Large segments of the Appalachian Trail were shut down by the storms while the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina sustained “catastrophic damage,” which is still being assessed, according to the National Park Service.
In the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the Foothills Parkway East near Cosby and Lakeview Drive remain closed while park staff address storm damage.
“The National Park Service has deployed its Eastern Incident Management Team to assist parks in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina with damage assessments and recovery as conditions allow,” said a statement issued by the Park Service. “The team is coordinating with parks, FEMA, and other agencies on their actions.”
Here’s another look from the federal level
Normally a fairly prolific X user, Rep. Tim Burchett of Knoxville doesn’t represent the worst affected regions but flooding occurred within Knox County and down the road in Newport and other points along the Pigeon River and French Broad River, which joins the Holston to form the Tennessee River, which flows directly through Knoxville. He didn’t post about the disaster or offer any warnings or assistance until late Sept. 27, when his first reference to Hurricane Helene’s effect on the mountains was a repost of a user conflating flood relief and U.S. support of Ukraine. The worst flooding had occurred hours before. His only other post on that fateful day was another claim of pending election irregularities.
After a flurry of obligatory reposts of aid requests and resources; Burchett wrapped it up late Wednesday with a repost of a follower claiming FEMA was confiscating money and homes. He told the follower he had checked it out, and FEMA denies that is happening.
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TennGreen protects unique stream habitat amid population boom
Written by TennGreen Land ConservancyTennessee cave salamanders, other wildlife will benefit from creation of unique preserve
LEBANON — TennGreen Land Conservancy joined with Headwaters Reserve LLC to protect and restore a high-risk stream habitat adjacent to Cedars of Lebanon State Park. Located on approximately 47 acres, the property’s streams and wetlands are protected by a conservation easement held by TennGreen in perpetuity.
The waters of this property, called Cedar Forest, are within the Spring Creek watershed, which has been noted to contain more than 28 rare species, including the Tennessee cave salamander (Gyrinophilus palleucus).
Stream restoration, a vital process that breathes new life into natural aquatic environments, is a key objective of this conservation easement, offering numerous benefits to both wildlife and the community.
This permanent protection and intentional restoration will help to remove pollutants from waters in one of the nation’s fastest-growing counties while protecting the resource for generations to come.
TennGreen has previously conserved land in the area to expand Cedars of Lebanon State Park and Natural Area and Cedars of Lebanon State Forest.
Nov. 2: Celebrate fish at the bird park — Sturgeonfest 2024
This event was rescheduled from its original date.
KODAK — Take a break from football, grab the kayaks, get outside and join your friends and family for Sturgeonfest 2024 on the French Broad River!
The FREE celebration of the ancient fish, their lore and their future is set for 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Nov. 2 at Seven Islands State Birding Park boat ramp.
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Release a baby sturgeon into the French Broad River!
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Enjoy food from Kennedy Grill Food Truck, Crave Food Truck, Giddy Up Coffee Truck, Central Creamery, and the King of Pops!
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Enjoy music by the Tennessee Stifflegs!
To put a fish in the water, reserve a FREE ticket for everyone in your party for a specific time slot.
Pending state conservation deal would protect forest and water resources
Written by Cassandra Stephenson
The roughly 5,500-acre property features wetland forest used for research by the University of Tennessee
This article was originally published by Tennessee Lookout.
GRAND JUNCTION — About 60 miles east of Memphis near the Mississippi line, verdant hardwood trees and ecologically exceptional streams weave through thousands of acres of rolling hills.
The land is home to a diverse array of aquatic and terrestrial life, decades-old archaeological sites and a watershed that feeds into the aquifer where hundreds of thousands of Memphians source their drinking water.
If all goes to plan, 5,477 acres of this land will soon become Tennessee’s newest state forest, securing its preservation for posterity.
The land is a portion of the 18,400-acre historic Ames Plantation, a privately owned tract in Fayette and Hardeman Counties amassed by Massachusetts industrialist Hobart Ames in the early 1900s.
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To beat them, eat them: Enjoy a carp po’boy during an invasive-species panel
Written by Thomas Fraser
Learn about invasive species such as carp and zebra mussels at Conservation Fisheries panel
KNOXVILLE —To hear Bo Baxter tell it, carp actually doesn’t taste half bad.
He fairly gorged on the bottom feeders once long ago, during a long Mississippi River trip with the famed aquatic biologist David Etnier.
He prefers silver carp to, say, bighead carp, but the meat is fairly light and flaky on both and “I consider it excellent,” Baxter said. (Baxter serves on the editorial board of Hellbender Press).
Regardless their culinary appeal, the fish don’t belong anywhere near here, and will be among several different invasive species set to be the subject of a forum beginning at 6 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 23 at Remedy Coffee, 800 Tyson St., Knoxville.
And while you learn, you can enjoy a $5 carp po’boy and hushpuppies plate courtesy of the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA), which is working to both limit the spread and establish a robust commercial market for the fish. Payson will provide the bread and remoulade.
Kayak fisherman drowns on Watauga River
Get on Little River for a day of summer fun, science and community
MARYVILLE — Come hang out on Little River with friends and family and learn about river life with the scientists and staff of Conservation Fisheries Inc. and Little River Watershed Association.
The educational fun kicks off at noon July 27 with the start of shuttled floats down Little River ending back at River Johns, 4134 Cave Mill Road. (Bring your own personal flotation device).
Guided snorkeling (masks and snorkels provided) in the river at River Johns begins at 3 p.m. The day wraps up with food from Tarik’s North African, or you can bring your own picnic.
Fish on: First-time study links recreational fishing and nutrition
Written by David Fleming
Under-reporting of economics of sustenance fishing is a social justice issue
David Fleming is a Virginia Tech writer and communications specialist.
BLACKSBURG — It is a sight of summer: Along the banks of rivers and streams throughout the Southeast, recreational fishers will cast lines into the water, hoping that a fish will take the bait. In urban towns and cities such as Roanoke or Charlottesville, the same lines dangle from bridges or freshwater wharfs.
All of these activities are currently catagorized as “recreational fishing,” but for many fishers in the U.S. and around the world, the act of fishing in freshwater is not a leisurely pursuit but a way to provide critical sustenance and nutrition for individuals, families and communities.
An expansive new paper, co-authored by Virginia Tech Assistant Professor Elizabeth Nyboer of the College of Natural Resources and Environment and published in the journal Nature Food, reveals the underrecognized extent that inland recreational fisheries provide food and nutrition to people as well as offers insight on their vulnerability to future climate challenges.
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Harpeth Conservancy fundraiser comes with dinner in a creek
KINGSTON SPRINGS — The 2024 Dinner IN the Creek, a fundraiser for the Harpeth Conservancy, will be nestled in the serene beauty of Bell’s Reserve in Kingston Springs. This hidden oasis, with over a mile of Harpeth River waterfront, offers a unique setting for the event in a charming spring-fed creek at the heart of the 600-acre property.
This year’s Dinner IN the Creek, sponsored by Amazon, is set for 6-9 p.m. July 23. Tickets are $500 and include a Hispanic-roots dinner from renowned chefs and live entertainment from Brother and the Hayes.
Harpeth Conservancy’s vision is clean water and healthy ecosystems for rivers in Tennessee championed by the people who live here.
Little River dam-removal project flowing forward, specific timeline TBA
Written by Élan Young
Army Corps still committed to Little River dam removal for ecological and safety reasons, but timeline uncertain
TOWNSEND — The remainders of two low-head dams on the Little River in Blount County, Rockford Dam and Peery’s Mill Dam, are slated for removal by the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) following the release in July 2023 of a Project Report and Environmental Assessment that investigated the lower 32 miles of the Little River.
The Corps confirmed this week that plans are moving ahead to remove the two dams.
Peery’s Mill Dam was the site of 4 separate drownings in the last 15 years, giving it the notorious reputation as the deadliest dam in Tennessee in the past quarter century. Late last month, three women had to be rescued from the churning waters there, prompting questions from the community about the status of the Corps’ removal effort.
Little River Watershed Association president Andrew Gunnoe says that watershed advocates are eager for the dam removal project to move forward because doing so would provide both ecological and community benefits.
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Learn the basics and beauty of freshwater snorkeling at a Conservation Fisheries panel
KNOXVILLE — Join Conservation Fisheries, Inc. and other experts for a discussion on how to HEAD UNDERWATER to snorkel and enjoy the beautiful underwater biodiversity of the Southern Appalachians.
The free event is set for 6-8 p.m. June 15 at Remedy Coffee, 800 Tyson Place, Knoxville.
The panel will be led by CFI Director Bo Baxter; Casper Cox from Hidden Rivers of Southern Appalachia; Jennifer Webster from Little River Watershed Association; and TVA Fisheries Biologist Justin Wolbert.
TWRA recovers body of teenage drowning victim
ROCKWOOD — Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency officers and local agencies recovered the body of Roane County resident, 19-year-old Braeden Hartup, from Watts Bar Reservoir just after 2 a.m. May 26.
The initial 911 call, concerning a male who had jumped from a boat and did not resurface, came in just after 9 p.m. May 25. Hartup and 10 others were on an anchored pontoon just south of Rockwood, near the Winton Chapel Access Area. Witnesses stated that Hartup decided to swim and jumped into the water from the front of the boat. Hartup was not wearing a life jacket.
TWRA officers and local agencies used a remote-operated vehicle to locate and recover Hartup’s body in 24 feet of water. The body was transported to the Knox County Medical Examiner’s Office. This is the eighth boating related fatality this year. The incident remains under investigation.
Find boating and statistical information at tnwildlife.org.
Water supply demands could strain Duck River’s rare riverine habitat
Written by Anita Wadhwani
Long time residents and conservation groups say industry lured by the state, population growth are draining water from a river prized for its biodiversity
This story was originally published by Tennessee Lookout.
COLUMBIA — When Gov. Bill Lee announced the state had lured a General Motors lithium battery supplier to Spring Hill three years ago, it was his largest economic announcement to date:
A $2.6 billion corporate investment; 1,300 new jobs; a major stepstone along Tennessee’s path to become an EV hub — helped along by a then-record $46,000 per job in taxpayer incentives.
The factory deal’s less conspicuous specs — its continuous need for 1.4 million gallons of water per day — is now figuring in a larger battle pitting citizens and conservation groups against state environmental regulators.
Last month, the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) granted permission to Columbia Power and Water Systems — which pumps water to the new Ultium Cells plant — to increase its current withdrawals from the Duck River by 60 percent.
It’s one of eight water companies along the Duck River seeking to dramatically increase water draws to meet rising demands for water in the rapidly growing five-county region southwest of Nashville.
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Baby sturgeon hit the river in latest phase of 25-year restoration effort
Written by Doug Strickland
Lake sturgeon recovery links rivers and experts in Tennessee and Wisconsin
Doug Strickland is a writer for the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga.
CHATTANOOGA — Just across from the iconic peaks of the Tennessee Aquarium on the shore of the Tennessee River, a group of scientists with the Tennessee Aquarium Conservation Institute gathered on an early May morning to restore a primordial fish to the state’s primary waterway.
One by one, they carefully navigated down a boat ramp at Coolidge Park before gently releasing juvenile lake sturgeon, each just under a foot in length, into the river’s shallows.
These 50 sturgeon were the final youngsters to be reintroduced from a class of hundreds of sturgeon fry that arrived at the Conservation Institute’s freshwater field station last summer. Their introduction to the Tennessee River represented the latest milestone of a decades-long conservation effort to restore this state-endangered fish.
Despite reclaiming their one-time home in the waters of the Volunteer State, these newfound Tennesseans began life some 850 miles north of Chattanooga.
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Tennessee’s mighty Duck River is gravely imperiled
Written by Anita Wadhwani
The Duck landed third on American Rivers’ list of most endangered rivers in the U.S.
This story was originally published by Tennessee Lookout.
COLUMBIA — The Duck River, which winds through seven Middle Tennessee counties for more than 260 miles before reaching the Tennessee River, is among the most endangered rivers in the United States, according to a new report by the advocacy group American Rivers.
Threatened by population growth, development and climate change “urgent action is needed to safeguard this vital ecosystem,” the report released Tuesday said.
The Duck River serves as the source of drinking water for nearly 250,000 Tennesseans. Industry and agriculture depend on it, too. Often considered one of Tennessee’s most pristine waterways, it draws more than 150,000 people each year for boating, fishing and other recreation. Last year, in an effort to protect the river from a controversial plan to establish a landfill near its banks, state lawmakers designated a portion of the river in Maury County an official state scenic waterway.
Bill to allow development on Tennessee wetlands advances in House; supporters cite property rights
Written by Anita Wadhwani
West Tennessee legislation appears to be driven by powerful development interests
This article was originally published by Tennessee Lookout.
NASHVILLE — A controversial bill to claw back state regulations over thousands of acres of Tennessee wetlands advanced with no debate in a House committee, keeping the proposal alive even after it was shelved in the state senate. The bill is likely to be considered this week in another subcommittee.
The bill would give developers and landowners a break from needing state permission to build on or fill in wetlands that have no obvious surface connection to a river, lake or stream. Current law gives the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, or TDEC, the power to approve or deny plans to disturb a wetland — and to require that developers pay often-costly mitigation fees if a project is allowed to go forward.
The bill’s sponsors, west Tennessee Republicans Rep. Kevin Vaughan and Sen. Brent Taylor, have called state rules onerous and an infringement on the rights of property owners.
Knox County is trying to fix what we broke at Plumb Creek
KNOXVILLE — Knox County government announced the kickoff of the Plumb Creek Park Stream Enhancement Project, a strategic effort aimed at revitalizing the water quality and ecosystem of Plumb Creek, a tributary of Beaver Creek, supported by federal funding through the American Rescue Plan Act.
(Eds. note: Every Republican representing Tennessee in the U.S. Senate and U.S. House voted against the act that provided the money.)
Plumb Creek Park, located at 1517 Hickey Road, features a disc golf course, playground, shelter, walking trails and an 8-acre dog park.
The project, which began this month, is expected to wrap up in December and include a comprehensive set of restoration activities. Work includes removing obstructions such as culverts and debris; controlling invasive species; stabilizing stream banks; and installing stream structures to improve habitat quality, erosion, and sediment control measures.
Some sections of the park will close temporarily during construction. The dog park will remain open.
This project is funded in part by the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), a federal initiative to aid state and local governments in mitigating the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
— Knox County
Visit the Arctic at Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga. While you still can.
Written by Doug Strickland
Learn how the Arctic still thrives in the face of existential climate threats in new IMAX film
Doug Strickland is a writer for the Tennessee Aquarium.
CHATTANOOGA — At first glance, the Arctic seems an impossibly inhospitable place, a frigid wasteland of extremes in which nothing can survive.
Only one-quarter of this vast polar region at the top of the world is made up of land. The rest is comprised of a glacially cold ocean capped by vast stretches of ice.
Despite its harsh conditions, life has found a way to endure — and even thrive — in the Arctic. Audiences will meet just a few of the Arctic’s charismatic residents on Jan. 11, 2024 when the Tennessee Aquarium IMAX 3D Theater debuts a new giant-screen film, Arctic 3D: Our Frozen Planet.