Hamilton County and TVA prepares ahead of severe weather

HAMILTON COUNTY, Tenn. (WDEF)-As rain and heavy wind from Hurricane Helene is making its way. 

Hamilton County and TVA is urging folks to starting making preparations for its arrival.  

“We are noticing the amount of weather that was brewing down in the Gulf of Mexico and starting to get a little concerned,” said Amy Maxwell. Public Information Officer, Hamilton County Emergency Management. “It helps with our partners from the National Weather Service that we have been in contact with them every single day since Monday, noticing that the weather is changing significantly.” 

Hurricane Helene expects to make landfall in western Florida as a Category 3 storm.

Then makes its way north into states like Georgia, Alabama, and Tennessee. 

According to News 12’s Chief Meteorologist, Austin Onek, The Tennessee Valley can expect three to 6 inches of rain and higher wind gust is possible. 

Maxwell explains why it’s important that folk are aware of the incoming weather.

“You do not want to be on the roads, if you can help it. You know, a lot of our wrecks occur because of the fact of torrential downpours. You can not see in front of you. You can not see if there is flooded streets in front of you. So this is a good idea to just wait for the storm to pass and then get out and venture out, if you have to,” said Maxwell. 

James Everette, General Manager for River Managment at TVA says they are  preparing for potential flooding. 

“When we see these types of storms come our way, coming into the Tennessee Valley, the preparations begin days in advance. We have been working all week, in fact, trying to move some water through the system and build some of that flood storage capacity to get ready even before the heaviest rainfalls move into the area,” said Everette. 

Folks are encouraged to have resources like weather radios in order to stay up to date with road closures and power outages

Everett believes that’s the best practices for folks to be safe. 

“So we encourage people to heed the advice and the warnings that the National Weather Service issues, as well as their local media partners as well, so that there is a lot of great information coming out there in terms of warnings and watches so people can get ready for this,” said Everette concluded.