Alberto triggers mudslides, but threatened dam is OK
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 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 special 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 after 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, and McDowell County officials announced in a public alert just after 10 a.m. Wednesday the dam was safe and people could return to their homes.
Cooper declared a state of emergency in western North Carolina as forecasted heavy storms for much of the rest of the week could quickly bring the flooding and mudslides back.
“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 travelling 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 town in northern Georgia was also dealing with flooding.
Up to 7 inches of rain caused flooding to creeks and rivers in the city of Helen, Georgia, around 10 a.m. Wednesday, the National Weather Service said. Atlanta station WAGA-TV reported that several roads near the downtown area were shut down because of the rising water, which was about knee high. No injuries or structural damage have been reported.
The center of a depression that had been Alberto was about 400 miles west near Hopkinsville, Kentucky, where Sherry Key had a fitful night of sleep because of high winds and heavy rains.
“I have dogs, and they’re terribly afraid of storms, so they were on top on top me all night,” said Key, an airport office manager.
Radar showed rain extended as far south as the Gulf Coast, where the storm came ashore in the Florida Panhandle on Monday, to the Great Lakes region.
Forecasters warned the leftovers of the Atlantic hurricane season’s first named storm were still capable of causing treacherous flooding as heavy precipitation spreads deeper into the nation’s midsection. Flash flood watches and warnings were in effect for parts of several states from Alabama through Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, the Carolinas and Virginia and West Virginia.
In the mountains of western North Carolina, McDowell County Emergency Management deputy director Adrienne Jones said about 200 residents spent the night in three shelters, set up in Marion, Old Fort and Glenwood.
She said five minor injuries had been reported during water rescues as creeks and streams overflowed their banks and rock slides closed roads.