Hydrologist warns of springtime return of fall flooding

ATHENS - Can lake lanier be too full? Most certainly, says one expert, and at exactly the wrong time.

University of Georgia hydrologist Todd Rassmussen tells the Georgia News Network there's a real risk for the September floods to return this spring.

Rassmussen says what you don't want is an empty lake in the summer, or a full one in the spring.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has been trying to reduce the level in Lanier since November, but Rassmussen says there's only so much that lakes downstream can take, and it won't stop raining.

"I know the corps is trying really hard to lower the water level but they haven't been given a breather to move that water downstream," Rassmussen said. "The expectation is that we're going to have a very wet spring and to be sitting here with a full reservoir with all this water on its way puts them (the corps) on the hot seat."