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.

2:38 Flooding, heavy winds hit Florida as Hurricane Helene closes in

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 streets.

Get daily National news

Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.

Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up

By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.

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