New Crossville dam built just in time for 7" rainfall

Plagued by drought and water restrictions each of the past two years, the waves of water splashing over Crossville's new Holiday Hills dam is still a little foreign.

"It's hard to have a flood on top of a mountain, but we succeeded in doing that this weekend," Ted Meadows, Crossville's city manager said. "By Monday morning, we were running about a foot over the dam wall here. This is a 250 acre lake. That's a lot of water coming out here."

He said it's a situation that could have been a lot worse one year ago.

The dam is nearly brand new. They cut the ribbon about two weeks ago. If they hadn't replaced it, some said it would have been a lot soggier week.

"At that point, we would have had water 10 to 17 feet up into the yards. You couldn't drain it," Meadows said.

While some neighbors said they're still seeing high water, the city is optimistic larger controls will mean less chance for flood and more power during times with little rain.

"An inch on this lake equals a foot of water," he said. "We've probably put a half billion gallons of water over the dam, which is not bad for a community in drought conditions for the last couple years."

With that, he also has high hopes those drought conditions won't return later this summer.

"Hopefully this year we'll not get into a crisis situation," he said.