Heavy rains and occasional gusty winds rolled through the Triad Friday, but the central part of North Carolina fared much better than its neighbors to the west when it came to the impact from Hurricane Helene.
The Greensboro Police Department responded to 31 storm-related incidents between 6 a.m. and 1 p.m. Friday: 16 fallen trees, nine vehicle accidents, four non-operational traffic signals, one vehicle assistance call and one call related to flooding.
Guilford County Emergency Services Public Information Officer Scott Muthersbaugh wrote in an email that there were “still no major impacts to report” from the storm around 1:30 pm. Friday.
Muthersbaugh wrote there was “some reasonably high water around the Latham Park area,” which is one of Greensboro’s most flood-prone locations, but said this was not causing significant problems.
People are also reading…
Across the state, the storm caused two deaths, and a tornado apparently touched down in Rocky Mount, causing dozens of serious injuries, authorities said.
Thousands of customers lost power in Greensboro on Friday, including more than 6,000 people in the area spanning from the Greentree neighborhood to the Vandalia neighborhood in south Greensboro.
The threat of severe weather had led Guilford County Schools to cancel classes on Friday. And it prompted the rescheduling of the football game between Dudley and Atkins high schools. That game will now take place at 1 p.m. Saturday.
Organizers of the second annual Triad Strong Music Festival, scheduled for Saturday, have postponed the event until Nov. 23 due to severe weather expected in the Triad this weekend, according to a news release from the city.
Conditions were far worse to the west in North Carolina’s mountains and foothills.
A mudslide sent at least one lane of Interstate 40 into the swollen Pigeon River at the North Carolina-Tennessee state line, closing the the road in both directions, transportation officials said.
The state reported nearly 400 road closures and more than 100 water rescues in the western part of the state. State officials advised people in the west to treat all roads as if they are closed.
“The priority now is saving lives,” Gov. Roy Cooper said, adding no one should be on the roads unless they were seeking higher ground.
Officials in Rutherford County were watching Lake Lure Dam because water overtopped the entire length of the dam. The lake is famous for being the place where some of the scenes from the 1987 film “Dirty Dancing” were filmed.
There is some erosion on one side of the dam caused by the overtopping, state Department of Environmental Quality spokesperson Kat Russell said Friday.
Town officials are monitoring the erosion, she said.
The lake, which flows into the Broad River, was created nearly 100 years ago. The dam is listed as 480 feet long and about 120 feet high.
The dam is “doing what it’s supposed to do, but the water levels are just too high,” Russell said.
Downstream communities have been made aware of the overtopping but have been told they would have several hours to alert residents to their own evacuations if needed, Russell said. The North Carolina and South Carolina state agencies also have received emergency action plans if conditions worsen.
Roads were washed out preventing first responders from making it to some calls, Buncombe County Assistant Emergency Services Director Ryan Cole said.
That included a mudslide that involved four homes and left an undetermined number of people unaccounted for, Cole said.
“This is the most significant natural disaster that anyone of us has ever seen in western North Carolina,” Cole said.
Downtown Boone saw flooding in areas officials couldn’t recall flooding before. Appalachian State University canceled its Saturday football game with Liberty University, blaming the severe impacts of the weather around the region.
Forecasters were comparing it to the benchmark flood of 1916 which killed 80 people, damaged dozens of miles of railroad tracks and isolated Asheville and other mountain cities for days.
Several rivers were above or near record crests and floodwaters were not expected to recede until at least Monday.
In Biltmore Village, just outside the famous Biltmore mansion, swiftly moving water from the overflowing Swannanoa River reached above the hoods of vehicles. It was a scene emergency officials expected in many other places as all the rain that fell has to flow downhill to the sea.
“It’s terrible. I don’t know if I will ever see anything like this again,” said Spencer Tate Andrews who came down to the area to see the flooding. “Glad I got to see it but at the same time it’s terrible and it’s going to affect a lot of people and businesses.”
The Greensboro Fire Department announced Thursday that 18 members of its Search and Rescue Team were headed to the mountains to assist with disaster response efforts.
kevin.griffin@greensboro.com News & Record Reporter Camdyn Bruce and The Associated Press contributed to this story.
0 Comments
'); var s = document.createElement('script'); s.setAttribute('src', 'https://assets.revcontent.com/master/delivery.js'); document.body.appendChild(s); window.removeEventListener('scroll', throttledRevContent); __tnt.log('Load Rev Content'); } } }, 100); window.addEventListener('scroll', throttledRevContent); }
Get local news delivered to your inbox!
Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter.
Kevin Griffin
- Author email
Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily!
{{description}}
Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.
Followed notifications
Please log in to use this feature
Log In
Don't have an account? Sign Up Today