By Angela Hatton
Nashville, TN – The head of the Great Lakes and Ohio River U. S. Army Corps of Engineers says communications need improvement before the next major flood event. Major General John Peabody says communication between the National Weather Service and the Corps was the biggest mistake made during the May flooding event in northwest Tennessee.
"Where we did not perform as we should have was communicating the information continuously, clearly, so that it was understandable to the weather service so that they in turn could communicate the forecast to the people who live in the flood plains or near the flood plains of the river."
A final after action report released Tuesday identifies several areas for improvement. Peabody praised workers at dams along the Cumberland, Tennessee and Ohio rivers, who he says prevented worse flooding. Peabody calls the rainfall in May unprecedented, and says many dams reached record levels.