TVA's system of dams along the Tennessee River and its tributaries has been tested by record flooding from Hurricane Helene, which drenched Western North Carolina and East Tennessee as a tropical storm , washing out interstate lanes and trapping residents as small streams in the Great Smoky Mountains suddenly became raging rivers.

"We do expect this number to change," spokesperson Myron Hughes of the Unicoi County Emergency Management Agency said Sunday.

The governor requested an accelerated Major Disaster Declaration on Monday for Unicoi, Carter, Cocke, Greene, Hamblen, Hawkins, Johnson and Washington counties.

At least five people have died in East Tennessee in the devastating Hurricane Helene floods. The number is expected to rise. The deaths reported in Tennessee from Hurricane Helene by Sept. 30, three confirmed by TEMA and two confirmed by Cocke County Sheriff CJ Ball,

Federal, state and local officials have warned that the death total will rise in East Tennessee from flooding caused by Hurricane Helene.

On Monday, The Tennessee Department of Health confirmed there have been more “weather-related” fatalities in East Tennessee, according to an announcement from TEMA.There has been one death in Knox County in addition to one in Johnson County,

According to the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency, two people are dead and more than 150 people are missing in Northeast Tennessee following the flooding.