This is a stupid question mostly because I don’t know where to ask it. Also it seems like an obvious thing but I’ve never read any news mentioning ……

I was just reading an article going over recent flooding catastrophes and one thing that stood out was a dam adding to the high water by having to release water while the flooding was still happening.

But can’t dam operators see a storm forecast and start drinking, er draining, ahead of time? It’s seems like you could make a big difference in controlling flooding with just a day or two pregaming. That can’t be profound, so why does it never seem to be mentioned? It could be a significant factor on many floods, a critical use for NWS data, forecasts, warnings, so where are the news mentions?

  • fuckwit_mcbumcrumble@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    16·
    5 days ago

    But can’t dam operators see a storm forecast and start drinking, er draining, ahead of time?

    Yes, they already do this. When rain is expected they lower the levels of the dam. Even just smaller rainfalls not quite flooding territory. But there’s only so much water you can drain before it starts causing problems for the dam.