Remnants of the first named storm of the 2018 Atlantic hurricane season are pushing into Canada but Alberto's heavy rains have drenched the southern Appalachians, claiming lives in raging flash floods, triggering mudslides and washing away bridges.
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Since its landfall on May 28 in the Florida Panhandle, Alberto's heavy rains have been widespread, with flooding reported from Alabama through Tennessee, Kentucky, the Carolinas, West Virginia and Illinois.
In Virginia, flash flooding blamed on Alberto turned a creek into a roaring death trap as a man and woman were swept away when their car was washed off a road Wednesday night.
Police say one of the victims was found on Thursday and the search would continue for the other still missing.
Two deaths had previously been reported in the US during the storm's passage. A television news anchor and a photojournalist were killed Monday in North Carolina while covering the weather when a tree became uprooted from rain-soaked ground and toppled onto their SUV.
Authorities in Cuba say Alberto left four people dead there as the storm drenched the island in heavy rain.
North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper declared a state of emergency for his hard-hit mountain counties, saying the forecast for the rest of the week calls for isolated heavy rain storms that could instantly cause flooding in particularly soaked areas.
Australian Associated Press
