A dam in Tennessee has suffered “catastrophic failure” from the adverse impacts of Hurricane Helene, officials said Friday.
The Tennessee Emergency Management Agency (TEMA) issued an emergency alert from Cocke County Mayor Rob Mathis about the Waterville Damn in Newport, Tenn.
“The Waterville Dam has suffered a catastrophic failure. Evacuation of all of Downtown Newport immediately,” the alert read.
Earlier in the day, the U.S. National Weather Service also issued an evacuation alert for people living in the vicinity of another dam, this one in North Carolina.
The alert, issued on Friday morning, warned of flash flooding for the Lake Lure dam in North Carolina, urging residents to evacuate to higher ground immediately because of “imminent” dam failure.
Tropical Storm Helene brought life-threatening flooding to the Carolinas on Friday after causing widespread destruction as a major hurricane moving through Florida and Georgia overnight. It killed at least 20 people, swamped neighbourhoods and left more than 4 million homes and businesses .
Helene hit Florida’s Big Bend region as a powerful Category 4 hurricane on Thursday at 11:10 p.m. ET (0310 GMT on Friday) and left a chaotic landscape of overturned boats in harbours, felled trees, submerged cars and flooded streets.
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Police and firefighters carried out thousands of water rescues throughout the affected states, including in Atlanta, where an apartment complex had to be evacuated due to flooding.
Helene came ashore in Florida with 140 mph (225 kph) winds, weakening to a tropical storm as it moved into Georgia early on Friday. It was carrying maximum sustained winds of near 45 mph (97 kph) as of 11 a.m. and was forecast to stall over the Tennessee Valley through the weekend.
Life-threatening storm surges, winds and heavy rains continued, the NHC said. The National Weather Service issued flash flood warnings for several counties in Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina on Friday morning.
“This is a PARTICULARLY DANGEROUS SITUATION. SEEK HIGHER GROUND NOW!” the service said.
–with files from Reuters
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