ROANOKE COUNTY, Va. – Wednesday’s rain has caused plenty of flooding across the region, and it comes as no surprise that the water levels at Carvins Cove continue to rise.
Two feet of water is now flowing over the Carvins Cove Dam spillway, prompting a a State II flooding notification.
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Stage II is used when potential failure or storm development are quickly accelerating that could result in failure of the dam.
This action is not an indicator of any imminent dam failure, as a 2014 study showed it would take 14 feet of water to cause failure, according to the Western Virginia Water Authority.
The 80-foot tall concrete dam has a 112-foot wide spillway and holds 6.42 billion gallons of water at full pond.
When water flows over the spillway, it goes into Carvins Creek.