HARDIN COUNTY, Tenn. — Hundreds of property owners along the Tennessee River in Hardin County are bracing for a repeat of the devastating flood that happened there almost a year ago.
The river is expected to rise another six feet, cresting at 388 feet at Savannah in the next few days.
That will be lower than last year’s high water mark, but some people are already worried about potential disaster.
“Last year we came out here in our pontoon boat. This was like an ocean or a lake and we came out here in our pontoon,” said Susan Boxx, who moved from Bartlett to Hardin County five years ago.
She’s hoping her home near the Tennessee River doesn’t flooded like it did in 2019.
“We were probably out a good five thousand dollars last year cause we had to redo our electrical work. Lots of people, my next door neighbor, she had five feet of water in her house,” she said.
Melda Collins is also watching the rising river closely and is concerned TVA isn’t controlling the flow of water from nearby Pickwick Dam.
“When they open those gates and flood this area they flood out probably three thousand, four thousand homes that end up with serious water damage,” Collins said.
Officials here are not expecting the water level to reach the 2019 record level.
“Even if it crests at 388 feet, that’s still … six to seven foot less than what we had in February of 2019,” said Hardin County EMA Director Melvin Martin.
Many people have already started moving possessions out if their homes.
Martin says this is a flood plain and he believes TVA does a good job controlling the water flow. However, the water has to go somewhere, and they can only do so much.
“The water’s going to come through this area and all the water from East Tennessee, we’re gonna see it over here” he said.
