A drone view showing the century-old Lake Lure dam which held during Hurricane Helene. The dam was part of the resort town’s efforts to seek federal funding for an ambitious rebuilding plan under the Biden administration, but now Trump’s calls to shrink or even abolish Fema and push some of the costs of responding to disasters onto the states have injected a level of uncertainty into Lake Lure’s recovery plans. — Reuters
WHEN Hurricane Helene’s floodwaters slammed into Lake Lure’s century-old dam last September, gouging a massive scar into one embankment and cascading five months’ worth of rain down its sides, town commissioner Dave DiOrio worried it might fail.
Emergency sirens blared. “DAM FAILURE IMMINENT!” the National Weather Service warned in a social media post, urging 3,000 residents living downstream in North Carolina to seek higher ground.
