Spillway gates to close

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers plans to close the spillways at Hartwell Dam today after three days of allowing thousands of cubic feet of water to flow from Hartwell Lake downstream. Late Friday, Corps Spokesman Russell Wicke issued a press release announcing the opening of the spillways. By Friday night, the heavy rainfall, sleet and snow pushed the lake levels to over 662 ft msl, but with lake levels now lower downstream at Lakes Russell and Thurmond, the Corps was able to open Hartwell’s spillways and release water.  Over the weekend, hundreds braved the dicey weather to come see the Hartwell Dam’s open floodgates, circumventing barriers with “area closed” signs.  Corps rangers directed traffic at the Georgia and South Carolina entrances to the Dam. Sunday afternoon, Wicke said the level at Hartwell Lake was coming down as planned. “The reservoir levels at Russell and Thurmond dams have come down since our initial rain event around New Years,” he said. “It doesn’t look like we’re going to have the spillways open too much longer at Hartwell because the levels are a lot closer to where we need them to be.” Earlier this month, the Corps opened the floodgates at Thurmond Dam for almost two weeks to bring water levels down. At that time, the Corps was waiting for Lake Hartwell to reach the 665 ft level before opening the spillways because Thurmond and Russell lakes were still very high. Now that levels have come down on all three reservoir lakes, the plan is to close the spillways at Hartwell Dam sometime today. The winter guide curve level at Lake Hartwell is 656 ft msl. Wicke said it’s not clear yet, just how far down they will let Hartwell Lake get before closing the floodgates.