The latest on Hurricane Helene from NBC News says the Lake Lure Dam in western North Carolina overflowed on September 27 after Hurricane Helene swept through the area. The latest storm to hit the US has put the Lake Lure Dam at risk of failure, with signs of damage reported early on September 27. Officials have warned residents in the area to evacuate.
Concerns about the Lake Lure Dam, about 25 miles east of Asheville, grew early on Monday morning as officials sent out emergency warning messages.
"Residents downstream of Lake Lure Dam should evacuate to higher ground immediately," the Rutherford County Emergency Management Agency said in a statement, stressing that the dam was about to fail. As of 1:30 p.m. on September 27, water had overflowed the dam.
The 120-foot-tall dam on the Broad River is operated by the town of Lake Lure. The maximum capacity of the Lake Lure Dam is equivalent to the water in 22,500 Olympic swimming pools.
The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality said on the morning of September 27 that the 470-foot-long dam was showing signs of erosion on one side. Power was out at the dam’s operating site, but the floodgates could still be operated manually.
The southern Appalachians were flooded for days as a frontal rainband brought once-in-a-century rainfall to some areas. Then, the circulation of Hurricane Helene hit the region overnight and continued into the morning of September 27.
The area near Lake Lure has experienced heavy rain over the past three days, with rainfall ranging from 200 to 400mm, said National Weather Service weather expert Jared Klein.
According to the US National Dam Inventory, Lake Lure is considered a “high risk” dam, meaning it will experience a failure or malfunction that could potentially cause death, following an inspection in March 2023.
In the latest update on the Lake Lure Dam, Olivia Stewman, a Lake Lure town official, said structural engineers “found the dam to be stable.” However, evacuees are not expected to return home immediately because travel in the area has been difficult following Hurricane Helene due to fallen trees and other hazards. Cellular communications are still down in the area.
In addition to the Lake Lure dam, a warning of possible dam failure was issued at Walters Dam, or Waterville Dam, about 100 miles from Lake Lure. On September 27, local officials announced that Walters Dam had “suffered a catastrophic failure.” Residents of Newport, Tennessee, downstream of Walters Dam, were asked to evacuate due to the risk of flooding.
However, later in the day, Kristin Coulter, communications director for the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency, said the dam breach was a false alarm, but the town of Newport was still in danger.
"The dam has not failed. Officials have asked people to evacuate," he said. Data from the U.S. Geological Survey shows the Pigeon River downstream of Walters Dam is experiencing major flooding.
Hurricane Helene was a dangerous Category 4 storm when it made landfall in the Big Bend area of Florida, USA on the night of September 26, but it weakened rapidly on the morning of September 27 as it made landfall and was downgraded to a tropical storm within hours. US officials said that Hurricane Helene has devastated the state of Florida and the southeastern US, killing at least 44 people. Hurricane Helene is estimated to cause property damage of between 15-26 billion USD.
