A federal utility that serves parts of seven southeastern states says 2018 was the wettest year on record in the Tennessee Valley.
Tennessee Valley Authority spokesman Scott Brooks says the utility measured a basin average of 67.1 inches of rain across the valley in 2018, beating the previous record of 65.1 inches in 1973. A TVA rain gauge in Mount Mitchell, North Carolina, measured 118.8 inches last year.
TVA says the Tennessee Valley region normally averages 51 inches of rain a year. In addition to providing power for nearly 10 million people, the wide-spanning utility's other duties include managing the 652-mile Tennessee River and its tributaries with a series of 49 dams.
Brooks says another 2 inches of rain is in the forecast as 2019 begins.
