The Sabine River Authority at 6 Thursday morning began a record release of water from Toledo Bend Reservoir, spokeswoman Ann Galassi said.
Galassi said flooding of the Sabine River in Deweyville is expected to go five feet above the level in May 1989. At that time, the river reached near the tops of utility poles at the end of West Bluff Road in north Orange County. Simmons Drive and parts of Green Avenue in Orange were flooded, too.
Heavy rainfall has been covering East Texas for three days in areas that drain into the Sabine River basin. The river authority started opening gates at Toledo Bend Reservoir at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday and increased the releases nine times until 6 a.m. Thursday.
The dam now has nine gates open at 22 feet wide with a release of 207,644 cubic feet of water released per second. Galassi said the gates have never been open that full before.
Even with the record release, the lake level at Toledo Bend is rising. The level at 6 a.m. was 174.36 feet. The lake is considered full at 172 feet. The lake was at 174.16 feet at 4 a.m. with eight gates open at 17 feet and one gate open at 18 feet. The reservoir was not designed for flood control and the dam has power generators.
A forecaster with the National Weather Service in Lake Charles said river levels are predicted only up to five days in advance. The river level at Deweyville is expected to be at 29.6 feet on Tuesday morning. Flood stage is 24 feet. The river Thursday morning was at 23.5 feet and is expected to reach flood stage by Thursday afternoon.
In Orange, the Sabine River is measured based on sea level. Thursday morning the river was at 3.1 feet and 4 feet is flood level. The weather service forecasts the river will be close to flood stage by Saturday and reach 4.1 feet Tuesday morning.
-Margaret Toal, KOGT-
Social Media