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.

Hundreds of workers and thousands of volunteers working to search, rescue and clean up. But who is giving orders?

Nuclear Fuel Services, which processes highly enriched uranium for the Navy in Unicoi County, said its plant posed no risk after flooding.