Hurricane Humberto may have positive effect on the Shoals drought

Normally, when the remnants of a hurricane pass through the Tennessee Valley in September, it wrecks the Tennessee Valley Authority's efforts to lower the levels of its reservoirs to prepare them for winter rains.

When the rain spawned by the remnants of Hurricane Humberto took aim at the Tennessee Valley on Thursday, TVA officials crossed their fingers that the forecasts would come to fruition.

"We have forecasters watching the weather who are very confident, based on the forecasts the Weather Service is providing, that we might get 1 to 2 inches of rain across parts of the valley," said TVA spokesman Gil Francis "That would not break the back of the drought, but it would certainly help. We need every drop of rain we can get."

Rain began falling in the Shoals around noon Thursday.

Rainfall in the Tennessee Valley is more than 15 inches below normal. Water flows in the Tennessee River have been reduced, and the levels of some TVA tributary lakes in eastern Tennessee are 20 feet below normal, Francis said.

Up to 3 inches of rain is expected in the Shoals before a cold front from the north pushes the remnants of Humberto out of the Tennessee Valley by mid-afternoon today, said Brian Carconi, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service office in Huntsville. A few lingering showers are possible tonight but shouldn't cause too many problems for prep football games around the Shoals.

If the remnants of the hurricane track farther south than forecasters were predicting Thursday, Francis said the Tennessee Valley could miss out on the heaviest rain. If the remnants of Humberto pass near the valley, it would help TVA rejuvenate some of its rain-starved reservoirs, he said.

Humberto made landfall near the Texas-Louisiana border Thursday, dumping more than 6 inches of rain on some communities. The torrential rainfall caused flooding in parts of Texas and Louisiana.

Flooding is not expected to be a problem in the Tennessee Valley.

"Our tributary reservoirs are so far down, we could get 3 to 4 inches of rain and still not have to worry about flooding," Francis said. "We have plenty of storage space in our tributary reservoirs."

Dennis Sherer can be reached at 740-5746 or dennis.sherer@timesdaily.com.