Hurricane Helene: Thousands evacuated amid fears of Tennessee dam failure
Thousands of people in the vicinity of a dam in Tennessee were evacuated Friday amid fears of a “catastrophic failure” from the adverse impacts of Hurricane Helene, but officials later clarified the structure hadn’t failed.
The Tennessee Emergency Management Agency (TEMA) issued an emergency alert from Cocke County Mayor Rob Mathis about the Waterville Dam in Newport, Tenn., a city of about 7,000 people.
“The Waterville Dam has suffered a catastrophic failure. Evacuation of all of Downtown Newport immediately,” the alert read.
About an hour later, the TEMA said it had been informed by the dam’s operator, Duke Energy, that “the dam has not failed.”
“Evacuations are still occurring in the area. Please follow local official guidance if you live in the region,” the agency said.
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. Officials later said there were no immediate concerns it would fail.
Helene brought life-threatening flooding to multiple states on Friday after causing widespread destruction as a major hurricane moving through Florida and Georgia overnight. It killed at least 40 people across four states, swamped neighbourhoods and left more than 4 million homes and businesses without power.
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
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