At least 2 dead, 3 missing in flooding from Alberto
Rain, floods and mudslides from the remnants of Subtropical Storm Alberto have claimed two lives, with three other people feared swept away to their deaths.
In North Carolina, officials blamed a landslide for a gas leak that destroyed a home, killing two people Wednesday afternoon. Boone Police Sgt. Shane Robbins said the landslide resulted in the “catastrophic destruction” of the home.
Asheville, N.C., has picked up a whopping 14.4 inches of rain in May, making it the city’s wettest month since record-keeping began there in 1869, AccuWeather said.
Flooding in rural Virginia that left at least three people missing also has damaged an unknown number of homes, washed out some roads and bridges and prompted at least one school system to close. In Albemarle County, two people were missing, and in Madison County one person was missing.
Officials kept a weary watch on dams and hillsides Thursday throughout the region, with more rain forecast. “An incredibly moist pattern remains in place over the eastern U.S., mostly responsible to the presence of Alberto and its tropical moisture feed,” the National Weather Service said.
Flood watches were in effect for most of Maryland and northern Virginia, including the Washington, D.C., and Baltimore metro areas.
In the central U.S., the weather service warned that thunderstorms were forecast to erupt Thursday afternoon and evening, with many becoming severe anywhere from southern Missouri and Illinois eastward into the lower Ohio and upper Tennessee valleys.
Damaging winds and large hail should be the primary threats, although a couple of tornadoes cannot be ruled out.
In total, eight people have died from Alberto, including four in Cuba, weather.com said.
This week, two television station employees of WYFF in Greenville, S.C., were killed when a tree fell on their vehicle as they covered Alberto in Polk County, N.C.