Newport flooding chaos, wrong info on a breached dam led to rescues

Newport, Tennessee, is split by two rivers, the Pigeon and French Broad. On Sept. 27, they turned into pathways of destruction as the Southern Appalachians were drowned in rain from the remnants of Hurricane Helene.

In the span of a few hours, both rivers breached their banks, hit record high levels and overran nearby terrain, roads and buildings.

“Both rivers kind of just come together. … It’s definitely been trouble for the whole county,” Cocke County Sheriff CJ Ball said Friday night.

As the rivers spilled over their banks, Cocke County Mayor Rob Mathis posted a series of dire Facebook posts calling for the immediate evacuation of downtown Newport because of a dam’s “catastrophic failure” upriver in North Carolina.

A flurry of frantic Facebook comments from residents followed, and the post was shared nearly 7,000 times. The Tennessee Emergency Management Agency reposted Mathis’ report and the National Weather Service followed suit. Residents nearby got emergency alerts letting them know about the dam failure.

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But the dam wasn’t failing, even though it was hard to tell as mud-saturated water battered the barrier. The pure force and volume of the water shot through the dam, even as it held.

In a rush with ever-changing information, Mathis made the evacuation call to save lives. His posts created chaos, yes, but walking them back was safer than ignoring the warning signs blaring that the city was in deep trouble.

Miraculously, no deaths were reported.

About Walters Dam

Walters Dam is owned and operated by Duke Energy, and the dam controls a portion of the Pigeon River through the Great Smoky Mountains. Walters Dam is also known as the Waterville Dam, and both names were used in various officials’ communications.

Knox News went straight to the dam’s operators to find out its condition.

“Duke Energy currently has all gates open at the Waterville Dam and continues to pass water through the dam,” Duke Energy spokesperson Madison McDonald told Knox News in an email Friday afternoon. “We can confirm that both the dam and our floodgates are performing as expected.”

In a Facebook post just before 6 p.m., Mathis said the evacuation remained in effect.

“That is all we know for now. This news has bought us some time. The evacuation is still on effect. Water levels continue to rise and are expected to rise several more feet,” he wrote.

Mathis couldn’t immediately be reached for comment for this story.

Record-setting high water

By 6 p.m., the Pigeon River at Newport reached a gauge height of 28.85 feet, nearly 5.5 feet over its previous record of 23.4 feet. It rose roughly 23 feet in 16 hours, according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration data.

Similarly, the French Broad at Newport was expected to reach more than double its flood stage by the end of the night. By 5:45 p.m. it had reached 20.67 feet but was expected to top 23 feet, just short of the record.

Several water rescues have taken place in Cocke County, according to the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency. The town opened up the Newport Community Center at 433 Prospect Ave. for those with no safe place to go.

Tyler Whetstone is an investigative reporter focused on accountability journalism. Connect with Tyler by emailing him at tyler.whetstone@knoxnews.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @tyler_whetstone.