 In the 1980s two power companies including the local electricity producer, Mississippi Power and Light Company, made applications to the federal government authorities to modify the dam to produce hydropower.The 1979 Easter flood at Jackson initiated planning to create additional levees below the reservoir and studies of a 68 foot high, dry dam called Shoccoe above the reservoir.Waterspouts occurred in the reservoir on April 15, 2011, August 19, 2012 and July 23, 2014.