Man captures dramatic footage of Ocoee flume break

POLK COUNTY, Tenn. (WDEF) – Barry Semak was driving to Cleveland to run some errands when he came across something unexpected.

“As I was coming through the gorge I just happened to notice coming around one of the curves that there was a waterfall that shouldn’t be there,” Semak said.

Semak whipped out his phone and captured it on Facebook.

What he was seeing was a break in the Ocoee flume right after a boulder crashed into the pipe.

“Whenever they have an issue like this they turn the water off so I figured go ahead and capture what I could when I could.  I just figured I’d go live and try to send it to my friends and let everybody know what was going on in the gorge,” Semak said.

Tennessee Valley Authority did shut off the water, and it has since stopped gushing out of the historic pipe.

The wooden flume has been around for about 100 years, but not too often does it break.

“The last time it happened was in 2014, probably about three or four hundred feet east of there,” T.V.A. spokesperson Scott Fiedler said.

The flume helps generate electricity.

Fiedler said hydroelectricity is the cheapest form of electricity T.V.A. has.

He said the break will impact their hydro system.

“It’s also helped allow us to rewind rates back to 2013 levels.  So it will have an impact, but our diverse portfolio allows us to switch generating sources and ensure that we have enough electricity for everyone in the valley,” Fiedler said.

The break is not an instant fix.

It could take months to repair the flume.