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Alberto: Evacuations lifted as threatened N.C. dam declared safe

By UPI staff
Tropical Depression Alberto moves north in this satellite image from the National Weather Service Wednesday. Forecasters said the storm triggered a flash flood emergency in North Carolina. Image courtesy NOAA/NHC
Tropical Depression Alberto moves north in this satellite image from the National Weather Service Wednesday. Forecasters said the storm triggered a flash flood emergency in North Carolina. Image courtesy NOAA/NHC

May 30 (UPI) -- Authorities lifted a mandatory evacuation for residents near North Carolina's Lake Tahoma Dam, which had been under threat from Tropical Depression Alberto.

Heavy rains and a landslide triggered by the storm prompted the evacuation order earlier Wednesday as emergency officials said the dam, near Marion, N.C., was "at risk of imminent failure."

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McDowell County, N.C., officials said a safety inspection determined the order was no longer needed.

The National Weather Service said a flood warning remains in effect in the area until 4:30 p.m.

The center of Alberto was located about 80 miles southwest of Indianapolis, the National Hurricane Center said in a 10 a.m. update Wednesday.

The storm carried maximum sustained winds of 30 mph as it moved north and prompted flash flood warnings for portions of western Kentucky and northeast Georgia to western North Carolina.

Flash flood watches are in effect for portions of the southern Appalachians and Lower Ohio Valley.

Rainfall of 2 to 4 inches is expected, with isolated higher amounts possible northward along the Illinois/Indiana border into the Lower Peninsula of Michigan. Flash flooding is a possibility in those areas, forecasters said.

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Alberto produced heavy rain, flooding and landslides in North Carolina Tuesday and put much of the Southeast under a flash flood watch. The storm made landfall in northern Florida Monday. Two people have died in the storm.

The Atlantic hurricane season officially starts Friday.

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