Heavy Rains Create Record Water Levels at Atlanta-Area Lake, Cause Flooding

One of the rainiest winters in recent years has brought the highest water levels in 42 years to Lake Lanier, northeast of Atlanta.

The high waters are sloshing into the yards of homes and overtaking docks and walkways. Some unmoored docks have been seen drifting in the lake, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says it can’t safely release water to significantly lower the lake level. That’s because sending water downstream into the Chattahoochee River could potentially cause flooding in areas to the south, including metro Atlanta. The Corps of Engineers oversees the lake and Buford Dam, which holds back Lake Lanier.

“You can’t just let the floodgates open. It would flood Atlanta,” said Joanna Cloud, the Lake Lanier Association’s executive director. “If there was a great big drought downstream, we could release more, but we have to meter it out to protect the citizens south of us.”

The water level in Lake Lanier Thursday was 1,075 feet (328 meters) as of late Thursday. That’s nearly 5 feet (1.5 meters) above what is considered “full pool.”

“I would either need to swim or kayak out to my dock to access my boat right now,” Cloud said at her lakefront home in Cumming.

The lake is so high at Cloud’s house that it almost reaches an outlet on her dock’s electrical box, the Atlanta newspaper reported. That poses a public safety issue, since the electricity from those boxes can travel through water, Cloud said.

“There are 10,000 docks on Lake Lanier. I can’t tell you all 10,000 have turned off the power to the breaker box,” Cloud said. Those with electrical boxes that may be near the high waters should cut off the power from their home circuit breaker, she said.

The high water this year comes about a decade after the end of a drought that left docks sitting in dry mud.