After historic rainfall in the mountains of East Tennessee and western North Carolina, the TVA has worked to manage record amounts of water that flow into the Douglas Dam. TVA spokesperson Scott Fiedler told News 2 that water has been held back to protect areas like Knoxville, Lenoir City and even Chattanooga.

Douglas Dam was spilling a record amount of water, 450,000 gallons a second. The Nolichucky Dam withstood twice the water flow of Niagara Falls.

The literal floodgates are open all along the Tennessee River as it moves Helene's floodwater from the Smokies to the Ohio River.