North Carolina 'dam failure imminent:' Lake Lure residents urged to seek higher ground amid Helene's flooding
Officials in Rutherford County, North Carolina, have ordered anyone living downstream of Lake Lure to evacuate to higher ground immediately.
Potentially deadly situation unfolding in North Carolina
Tropical Storm Helene, which made landfall in Florida as a Category 4 hurricane overnight, is now moving northeast through Georgia and the Carolinas. FOX News' Chelsea Torres is live in Asheville, North Carolina, with the latest on what the area has experienced so far.
LAKE LURE, N.C. – People living near a popular lake in the western North Carolina mountains have been urged to flee to higher ground as officials warn a dam is close to failure.
Relentless rain from what was once Hurricane Helene has resulted in catastrophic flooding from Florida to North Carolina as the storm moves inland across the Southeast.
Rutherford County Emergency Management officials issued a dire warning in a Facebook post Friday to residents near Lake Lure.
"Residents below the Lake Lure Dam need to evacuate to higher ground immediately!!" officials wrote in the post. "Dam failure imminient!! Evacuate to higher ground immediately!!"
Earlier, officials said water from the flooded Broad River is flowing over the Lake Lure Dam. They ordered people living along more than 30 roads near the lake to immediately move to higher ground.
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The National Weather Service issued a Flash Flood Emergency for areas downstream of the dam, including River Creek Campground, Green Hill, Cleghorn and Union.
"Move to higher ground now!" NWS officials wrote in the warning. "This is an extremely dangerous and life-threatening situation. Do not attempt to travel unless you are fleeing an area subject to flooding or under an evacuation order."
Officials said a shelter has been set up at a church in the town of Ruthefordton, about 20 miles to the southeast of Lake Lure.
All of western North Carolina is under a high risk of flooding Friday, with as much as 20 inches of rain possible in some places before Helene moves away this weekend.
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(FOX Weather)