Increased runoff from major creeks that feed into Lake Hamilton led Entergy Arkansas Inc. to increase releases from Carpenter and Remmel dams early Monday evening.
Ted Smethers, senior technical support specialist for Entergy's Hydro Operations, said the increased release from Remmel Dam could lead Entergy to issue high-water notifications for areas along the Ouachita River below Remmel Dam.
The notifications are triggered when the flow from Remmel reaches 15,000 cubic feet per second of water.
Lake levels had remained fairly stable for most of the day Monday, despite heavy rainfall, except on Lake Ouachita, which had risen slightly into the flood pool.
As a result, Entergy originally said the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers would make around-the-clock releases from Blakely Mountain Dam until it dropped out of the flood pool.
Lake Ouachita, as of 1 p.m., had risen 0.77 feet during the past 24 hours and was at 578.52 feet above mean sea level. The flood pool elevation on Ouachita is 578 feet msl.
By late Monday afternoon, though, major creeks that feed into Lake Hamilton started causing a rise in lake elevations.
"We have stopped the release from Blakely and opened a gate at Carpenter and are releasing about 13,000 cfs from Remmel and probably will go to 15,000 or more here shortly," Smethers said after the lake levels began rising.
"We do not expect the flow to exceed 20,000 cfs, but we won't know for sure until we see the Big Mazarn peak. It is at about 4 feet now and rising and Little Mazarn is at 8 and a half feet and rising. But the rain is out and so we expect things to turn around fairly soon," Smethers said.
Hot Springs received 2.2 inches of rain for the 24-hour period ending at midnight Sunday, according to the National Weather Service reporting station at Hot Springs Memorial Field.
So far in June, the Weather Service said 2.36 inches of rainfall has been recorded at the airport, which is 0.87 inches above normal. The total does not reflect Monday's rainfall.
A monitoring station at Remmel Dam recorded 2.35 inches of rain on Sunday, and had already recorded 0.68 inches of rain through noon on Monday.
In the month of May, the airport recorded 7.43 inches of rainfall, about 1.28 inches above normal.
On Sunday, Entergy was releasing about 9,000 cfs of water from Remmel Dam, which forms Lake Catherine. The normal generation release is 3,600 cfs of water.
"But we don't start issuing notifications until about 15,000 (cfs), and so it was not bad," Smethers said.
"The lakes are at normal target levels and steady. The release now is about 4,300 cfs. I don't expect to have a flood event. The rain has been spotty and well spaced out, and so we can pass it," Smethers said before the lake levels started rising.
"If we should get a watershed-wide heavy rain event that could change things quickly. But so far the rain events are not like that," he said.
Before the lake levels rose, Entergy sent out an email on Monday saying it planned to release about 3,600 cfs from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. except for Saturday, when the release will be from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., and Sunday, when it will be from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Local on 06/10/2014