Alberto leaves mudslides, floods in wake
Dam in North Carolina said in danger of failure
MARION, N.C. — Mudslides triggered by the soggy remnants of Alberto forced evacuations below a dam early Wednesday and closed a highway in western North Carolina as the center of the storm lashed the nation’s midsection hundreds of miles away.
The National Hurricane Center said Alberto ceased to be a subtropical storm Wednesday afternoon, but was expected to continue to bring wind and rain as it moved across the Great Lakes.
The heavy rains had stopped, at least for the time being in North Carolina, but Gov. Roy Cooper said several other dams could be in danger as rivers continued to rise. He sent a team of state inspectors to check on at least four of them.
The inspections came after about 2,000 people were evacuated for several hours when emergency managers said the Lake Tahoma dam was in danger of “imminent failure” early Wednesday. Heavy rain triggered landslides at the dam and along Interstate 40, which was closed near Asheville.
Engineers inspected the dam further in daylight. Mcdowell County officials announced in a public alert just after 10 a.m. Wednesday the dam was safe and people could return home.
Cooper declared a state of emergency in western North Carolina as heavy storms were forecast for much of the rest of the week, bringing a possibility of more flooding and mudslides.
“This storm isn’t yet over. I’m urging people to keep a close eye on forecasts and flood watches, and asking drivers to use caution especially when traveling in our western counties,” Cooper said in a statement.
Some areas of the North Carolina mountains have received up to 20 inches of rain in the past 15 days.
A north Georgia town was also dealing with flooding.
Up to 7 inches of rain caused flooding in Helen, Georgia, around 10 a.m. Wednesday, the National Weather Service said. No injuries or structural damage was reported.