McDowell County has landslides and evacuations as Isaias bands pummel area

WatchFlash Flood Warningthrough late morning for Burke, Henderson, McDowell, Polk, Rutherford & Yancey Counties. Avoid flooded areas!

6VIEW ALL PHOTOSA second angle shows the heavy rain that left standing water at the Marion Airport. Photo Courtesy McDowell EMSComment on this story0CommentShare storySharetopics: IsaiasMcDowell CountyLandslidesEvacuationsHeavy RainCatawba RiverEmergency Operations CenterRoad ClosuresMcDowell County, N.C. — Isaias heavy rain bands led to evacuations and landslides in McDowell County overnight.

Adrienne Jones, EMS director for McDowell County, along with her team responded.

“We activated our Emergency Operations Center (EOC) yesterday morning in anticipation of the National Weather Service Forecast,” said Jones. “They were pretty spot on. Right at that 8 p.m. hour through the night to the 2am hour, we were seeing lots of heavy rain coming through. We caught a little break throughout the night and then another heavy band came through early this morning.”

Jones detailed the situation, noting multiple landslides in the 226 North Woodlawn community.

“We also assisted with evacuations in low lying areas and did have to shelter one person in our emergency shelter with their animals," said Jones.

Jones added the Catawba River got right to its banks and in some areas the river spilled out of its banks around low lying areas around Marion.

“We did end up having to evacuate a couple of areas around the Catawba some campgrounds." she said.

The landslides and the rising river led to closures and evacuations as well. The River Breeze Campground had to be evacuated while floodwaters covered parts of the Shiflet Marion-McDowell Airport. Jones told News13 Polly Sprout Road was closed overnight and Gilbert Byrd Road also flooded.

Other departments assisted in the overnight response.

“Department of Transportation crews were out with us coordinating to make sure folks were safe and that we were closing any roads that needed to be closed," Jones said. "We did have some flooded roadways that are continuing to recede.”

She added bother her and her team are relieved it wasn’t worse.

“Everyone was safe, no injuries, no deaths. We’re very thankful.”