With a sudden surge of rain, streets and rivers flooded Tuesday afternoon all around Western North Carolina. Main Street in Burnsville as well as the Burnsville bypass had areas of flooding. Bakersville and Spruce Pine along with lots of other towns were dealing with flood waters. Roads in Rosman and Madison County and the usual trouble spots were all flooded.
Duke Energy reported that over 18,000 customers were without electricity early this morning across North Carolina. French Broad Electric had around 1,000 customers in Yancey and Mitchell Counties without power late yesterday afternoon but worked through the night to get that number down to a few dozen early this morning.
Many rain gauges in Yancey and Mitchell Counties went over the 5 inch mark during the afternoon. A rain gauge at Grassy Creek recorded over 7 inches in the past 24 hours.
This was a record breaking flood in Haywood County. According to the National Weather Service, the East Fork of Pigeon River hit 16.2 feet on Tuesday. The previous high was 13.1 feet.
Jeff Howell, Yancey County Emergency Management Coordinator, said the Pensacola area has suffered the worst damage since the historical 1977 flood.
Our Radio Emergency Alert System was activated several times yesterday afternoon and last night. A Tornado Warning was issued for Avery, Mitchell and Yancey Counties at 3:56 pm. No Funnel Clouds were reported but strong winds toppled rain soaked trees in many areas.
Yancey County Emergency Management issued an Urgent Message for residents to stay home overnight because of severe flooding with multiple vehicles in flood waters and swiftwater rescue calls. A curfew in Yancey County went into effect at 9:30pm Tuesday night until 6:00 am this morning except for travel to work and for emergencies.
Schools are closed today in Avery, Madison, Mitchell and Yancey Counties.
