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Asheville Reporter Talks Severe Weather Conditions In Western NC

Flooding at Carrier Park in west Asheville Wednesday morning.
Jason Garris / Twitter
Flooding at Carrier Park in west Asheville.

Mudslides and flooding, triggered by several days of rain and remnants of tropical storm Alberto, caused havoc in several western North Carolina counties.

As much as eight inches of rain fell in some mountain areas in a 24-hour period.  Gov. Roy Cooper declared a state of emergency for the region.

“We’re concerned about the possibility of more mudslides in the mountains and we’re keeping a close eye on several dams in western North Carolina,” Cooper said.

One mudslide forced evacuations below a western North Carolina dam early today, and closed portions of Interstate 40 east of Asheville. Emergency Management officials in McDowell County issued a warning shortly after midnight, saying that a failure of the Lake Tahoma dam was “imminent.” After engineers inspected the dam, it was declared “safe” at around 10 a.m. and nearby residents were allowed to return to their homes.

Jennifer Bowman, a reporter with the Asheville Citizen-Times, joined “All Things Considered” host Mark Rumsey with an update on weather conditions in the western part of the state.

The interview has been edited for clarity.   

Q: What does it look like over there? Is the worst over from this flooding and these mudslides?

A: Well, that's certainly the hope. We have been seeing some heavy flooding in the area – particularly in areas that are flood prone. Some good news from reporters here in Asheville is that we've actually seen some of the water receding, but there’s still rain the forecast. So, I think everyone's still on high alert and ready to be prepared.

Q: Can you put this in context for us? Heavy rain, flooding and mudslides in the mountains is not unusual – particularly in the springtime in western North Carolina. But where does this seem to rank?

A: You’re right, it's not uncommon. We’ve heard from residents, especially business owners, here in Asheville that have seen flooding with these kinds of storms before. There's an area here in downtown Asheville, Biltmore Village, which is kind of known to flood with heavy rain. So, a lot of these owners who have had businesses in the past with these storms have experienced this before.

They’re saying is it's not as bad, but there's still a lot of heavy flooding. In McDowell County, we saw mandatory evacuations due to landslides throughout the area. Moving forward with that, they're just looking to stay prepared.

Q: With Lake Tahoma Dam in McDowell County, there was an evacuation notice issued early today that was later rescinded because the area was declared safe. Where is that dam? Do many people live around it?

A: It's north of Marion, and what they saw in the middle of the night is what appeared to be a landslide. To take precautions, there was a mandatory evacuation order issued and we saw about 2,000 people from downstream evacuated. Officials waited until the sun was out to determine whether that dam was safe – and that was determined to be the case by an engineer.

McDowell County is where you're seeing a lot of some of the worst damage that from the flooding. Some I-40 lanes are still closed, as they are trying to clean up from a landslide that happened overnight.

Q: Are there a lot of downed trees and that sort of thing?

A: We’ve seen a lot of popular parks closed. The Biltmore Estate has had some issues with their front entrance, which is closed right now. They're having visitors go around with alternative entrances there. Their main entrance is located at Biltmore Village, which is pretty prone to floods.

At the Blue Ridge Parkway, we've seen some closures. Officials are monitoring the dams and Gov. Cooper’s office has said that water rescue teams from across the state are coming to the area to help if needed.

Mark Rumsey grew up in Kansas and got his first radio job at age 17 in the town of Abilene, where he announced easy-listening music played from vinyl record albums.