Areas of western North Carolina are recovering from massive flooding and power outages after the remnants of Tropical Storm Fred left two people dead and 20 more missing in just one county.
The Citizen-Times reports two people were confirmed dead overnight in Haywood County in the storm’s wake. Hundreds of rescue workers continue to search for 20 people who are still missing.
“At this time we have around 20 people still unaccounted for. Several people were determined to be safe and reunited with their families,” Haywood County Emergency Services spokesperson Allison Richmond said in a statement.
Two counties saw up to 12 inches of rain overnight and water may have risen some 3 to 7 feet in some areas.
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Gov. Roy Cooper declared a state of emergency Wednesday after the extraordinary flooding in the state’s mountain region. Earlier this week, Buncombe County received the heaviest two-day flooding in more than 50 years, according to the Citizen-Times.
“Haywood County appears to be the most severely impacted, where historic flooding is happening along the Pigeon River,” he said. “More than 98 people have already been rescued from floodwaters in western counties,” Cooper said at a press conference Wednesday.
The storm led to the closure of interstate highways in the lower Appalachians, and the National Weather Service says tornadoes are still possible and Fred could dump as much as 5 inches of rain as it moves across the northeast on Thursday.
As many as 14 possible tornadoes were reported across Georgia and the Carolinas.
Thousands were without power, most of them in West Virginia and North Carolina where steady downpours swelled waterways and washed rocks and mud onto highways.
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