Alberto's last gasp: Mudslides and flooding in Appalachia
Workers clear debris from a parking lot washed out at a restaurant in Black Mountain, N.C., Wednesday, May 30, 2018 after heavy rains from the fringes of Subtropical Storm Alberto caused widespread flooding Tuesday evening. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton)
A truck passes an area on I-40 where traffic lanes were blocked in Old Fort, N.C., Wednesday, May 30, 2018 after heavy rains from the fringes of Subtropical Storm Alberto caused a mudslideTuesday evening. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton)
A sign sticks out of the water from the French Broad River that flooded into Carrier Park in Asheville, N.C., Wednesday, May 30, 2018. The soggy remnants of Alberto spread rain deeper into the nation's midsection after downing trees, triggering power outages and scattering flooding around the South. (Angeli Wright /The Asheville Citizen-Times via AP)
Bentley Walton, center, with the USGS, uses an instrument to measure the flow of a section of the French Broad River in Asheville, N.C., Wednesday, May 30, 2018 after heavy rains from the fringes of Subtropical Storm Alberto caused widespread flooding Tuesday evening. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton)
Workers block off lanes of I-40 as they clear mud from the road near Old Fort, N.C., Wednesday, May 30, 2018 after heavy rains from the fringes of Subtropical Storm Alberto caused a mudslide Tuesday evening. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton)
Workers block off lanes of I-40 near Old Fort, N.C., Wednesday, May 30, 2018 after heavy rains from the fringes of Subtropical Storm Alberto caused a mudslide Tuesday evening. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton)
Workers clear debris from a parking lot washed out at a restaurant in Black Mountain, N.C., Wednesday, May 30, 2018 after heavy rains from the fringes of Subtropical Storm Alberto caused widespread flooding Tuesday evening. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton)
Drivers move past blocked off lanes of I-40 near Old Fort, N.C., Wednesday, May 30, 2018 after heavy rains from the fringes of Subtropical Storm Alberto caused a mudslide Tuesday evening. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton)
Drivers move past blocked off lanes of I-40 near Old Fort, N.C., Wednesday, May 30, 2018 after heavy rains from the fringes of Subtropical Storm Alberto caused a mudslide Tuesday evening. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton)
Lake Tahoma Road is closed after the water level from Lake Tahoma Dam rose on Wednesday, May 30, 2018, in McDowell County, five miles north of downtown Marion, N.C. Continuous rain over the last several days has raised the water level of the dam and forced evacuations of local residents. Area residents parked on side of street to view the flowing water from the dam. (AP Photo/Kathy Kmonicek)
Water flows from the Lake Tahoma Dam on Wednesday, May 30, 2018, in McDowell County, five miles north of downtown Marion, N.C. Continuous rain over the last several days has raised the water level of the dam and forced evacuations of local residents. (AP Photo/Kathy Kmonicek)
Local residents position a road closed sign at the entrance to the Lake Tahoma Dam on Wednesday, May 30, 2018, in McDowell County, five miles north of downtown Marion, N.C. Continuous rain over the last several days has raised the water level of the dam and forced evacuations of local residents. (AP Photo/Kathy Kmonicek)
A lake level indicator on the side of the Lake Tahoma Dam indicates how far above full, approximately 2 1/2 feet, the lake level is on Wednesday, May 30, 2018, in McDowell County, five miles north of downtown Marion, N.C. According to a local resident, the water level was between 4 1/2 and 5 feet. Continuous rain over the last several days has raised the water level of the dam and forced evacuations of local residents. (AP Photo/Kathy Kmonicek)
The water flows from the Lake Tahoma Dam on Wednesday, May 30, 2018, in McDowell County, five miles north of downtown Marion, N.C. Continuous rain over the last several days has raised the water level of the dam and forced evacuations of local residents. (AP Photo/Kathy Kmonicek)
Amanda Harrod of Nebo, North Carolina with her daughter, Addisyn takes photos of the water flowing from the Lake Tahoma Dam on Wednesday, May 30, 2018, in Marion, N.C. Continuous rain over the last several days has raised the water level of the dam and forced evacuations of local residents. (AP Photo/Kathy Kmonicek)
A lake level indicator on the side of the Lake Tahoma Dam indicates how far above full, approximately 2 1/2 feet, the lake level is on Wednesday, May 30, 2018, in McDowell County, five miles north of downtown Marion, N.C. According to a local resident, the water level was between 4 1/2 and 5 feet. Continuous rain over the last several days has raised the water level of the dam and forced evacuations of local residents. (AP Photo/Kathy Kmonicek)
A woman carries sandbags through floodwaters on Boston Way, Wednesday, May 30, 2018, in Asheville, N.C., after heavy rains. (Matt Burkhartt/The Asheville Citizen-Times via AP)
Biltmore Avenue is flooded Wednesday, May 30, 2018, in Asheville, N.C., after heavy rains. (Matt Burkhartt/The Asheville Citizen-Times via AP)
A utility truck drives through floodwaters along Biltmore Avenue Wednesday, May 30, 2018, in Asheville, N.C., after heavy rains. (Matt Burkhartt/The Asheville Citizen-Times via AP)
As remnants of Subtropical Storm Alberto spread into the Great Lakes region, people were keeping a weary watch on dams and hillsides Thursday as rains from the storms have triggered floods and mudslides in the Appalachians of the Southeast.
In the North Carolina mountains, one of those landslides was blamed for a gas leak that destroyed a home, killing two people. Boone police Sgt. Shane Robbins said the landslide resulted in the "catastrophic destruction" of the home Wednesday afternoon because of a gas leak.
And in Virginia, rescuers were searching for three people feared to have been swept away by floodwaters.
In central Virginia, a swift water rescue team was searching for two people who were seen being swept away by a flash flood's torrent of muddy water Wednesday night, according to a news release from the city of Charlottesville. By early Thursday, was no sign of the missing couple.
North of that, authorities were searching roadside woodlands for a third missing person. The Madison County Sheriff's Office said in a Facebook post Thursday morning that rescuers were searching for a missing person after getting a report of a female in the water. The post said the person was reported missing around 8:30 p.m. Wednesday and the search had been ongoing overnight.
Elsewhere, four North Carolina dams being closely watched by a state team of special engineers were holding up, Gov. Roy Cooper said Wednesday.
But Cooper went ahead and declared a state of emergency for his hard-hit mountain counties, saying the forecast for the rest of the week calls for isolated heavy rain storms that could instantly cause flooding in areas that have had 20 inches (50 centimeters) of rain in the past 15 days.
"This storm isn't yet over. I'm urging people to keep a close eye on forecasts," Cooper said.
Alberto, while still spinning like a classic tropical storm, has managed to make its way since a Memorial Day landfall in the Florida Panhandle to just outside of Chicago. Forecasters said it would still bring rain and gusty winds to the Great Lakes this week.
Alberto's heavy rains have been widespread. Scattered flooding was reported in several states from Alabama through Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, the Carolinas and Virginia and West Virginia.
In Hopkinsville, Kentucky, high winds and heavy rains gave Sherry Key a fitful night's sleep.
"I have dogs and they're terribly afraid of storms, so they were on top on top me all night," said Key, an airport office manager.
The worst of the flooding was in the Appalachian Mountains. Up to 7 inches (18 centimeters) of rain caused flooding in Helen, a mountain town in Georgia, the National Weather Service said.
Atlanta station WAGA-TV reported that several roads near the downtown area of that German-styled tourist destination were shut down because of the rising water. No injuries were reported.
Two deaths had been reported during the storm's passage. A television news anchor and a photojournalist were killed Monday in North Carolina while covering the weather, when a tree became uprooted from rain-soaked ground and toppled onto their SUV, authorities said. WYFF-TV of Greenville, South Carolina, said news anchor Mike McCormick and photojournalist Aaron Smeltzer died.
In the mountains of North Carolina, two Department of Transportation workers survived a close call when their dump truck was swept away by a mudslide in McDowell County while trying to clean debris from an earlier slide. The men were able to climb from the overturned truck and stand on its side in the Catawba River until they were rescued, Gov. Cooper said.
Authorities in Cuba say Alberto left four people dead there as the storm drenched the island in heavy rain. Interior Minister Julio Cesar Gandarilla said late Tuesday they died as a result of "recklessness" during the storm. He gave no details. The deaths occurred as authorities worked to contain an oil spill in central Cuba's Cienfuegos Bay that followed the flooding of nearby oil refinery.
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Collins reported from Columbia, South Carolina. Associated Press writer Jack Jones, also in Columbia, contributed to this report.
