CHARLOTTE, N.C. — In the days and weeks leading up to the destructive flooding downstream of Mountain Island Lake, the lake's water levels exceeded Duke Energy's own target, leaving homeowners wondering why the utility did not drop Mountain Island Lake's levels in advance of Helene moving into town.
"I don't understand," Erik Jendresen said. "Anybody who wants to say this was an act of God, well, it had an active accomplice in Duke Energy as far as I'm concerned."
Jendresen said Duke Energy's inaction harmed the people of Riverside and Lake Drive once before. He was one of several dozen people who sued the utility company after a 2019 flood, alleging negligence, among other things. The lawsuit, which he said resulted in a settlement "that was satisfactory to both parties," accused Duke Energy then of failing "to lower dam levels to accommodate the expected heavy rainfall," in part.
Jendresen is convinced Duke Energy allowed history to repeat itself.
"Why aren't the lake levels being lowered precipitously ahead of an event like this?" he asked. "It's inconceivable."
Back in 2019, even the governor raised concerns and pledged to look into the situation.
"I know that this kind of thing doesn't need to happen again," Gov. Roy Cooper said at the time.
Duke Energy data shows Mountain Island Lake's levels, on average, stayed above its target for the entire month of September. In response to WCNC Charlotte's questions, the utility insisted, creating any additional storage at Mountain Island Lake ahead of time "would not have prevented the flooding."
"We sympathize with those lake and river residents who have been impacted during this historic rain event," Duke Energy spokesperson Ben Williamson said. "Duke Energy cannot control weather related events but rather we do our best to mitigate the impacts of severe weather events, and in this case, a historic rain event. Rainfall last week, including a significant storm system that stalled over the Carolinas ahead of Hurricane Helene, exceeded initial national and global forecasts, increasing the flood risks. Forecasting actual inflow from an approaching storm is a complex and inexact science. Duke Energy must balance preparatory drawdowns with the possibility the storm will miss the river basin to avoid an unintentional consequence, such as a drinking water shortage. As soon as we anticipated Hurricane Helene's arrival and its significant rainfall, Duke Energy's hydro operations team began moving water through the entire 11-lake, Catawba-Wateree system on Tuesday, Sept. 24, and continues to do so – managing our river basin from Lake James to Lake Wateree. When significant rainfall is received, despite our best efforts, the lakes may not be capable of storing excess water from the rain and increased inflows from upstream. When this occurs, the excess water must flow downstream. Due to the size of Mountain Island Lake, one of the smallest lakes on the Catawba-Wateree River and the historic amount of rainfall from this event, any additional storage that would have been created in Mountain Island would not have prevented the flooding experienced on Mountain Island Lake, or in the upper reaches of Lake Wylie below Mountain Island Lake during this historic event. We must take a holistic approach to the entire 11 lakes on the Catawba-Wateree River. A decision at one lake can impact the others."
After flood waters destroyed Jendresen's home in 2019, he learned a valuable lesson and rebuilt 12 feet off the ground. Even as waters rose higher this time around, his house was spared. He said he wants to use his voice to help his neighbors.
"It puts me into a really unusual position, because this entire community, every single one of my neighbors have lost everything, and I'm the only one really standing. It's incumbent on me and everyone else to help as much as we can," he said. "We didn't think anything like this could happen again after 2019; that all of the lessons learned would have been learned by Duke."
Over the last decade, including earlier this year, Mecklenburg County has spent millions of dollars buying roughly two dozen properties along Riverside Drive. The goal is to prevent future development along the stretch of Catawba River that is prone to flooding.
Contact Nate Morabito at nmorabito@wcnc.com and follow him on Facebook, X and Instagram.