Flash Flood Warning through Thursday evening; more rain coming

ASHE COUNTY — The National Weather Service has issued a Flash Flood Warning through 4:45 p.m. on Thursday as rain continues to fall all across the High Country.

A state of emergency has also been declared by Ashe County and the towns of West Jefferson, Jefferson and Lansing, according to Ashe County Emergency Management.

According to the NWS Blacksburg office, Ashe, Alleghany, Watauga and Wilkes are all under the warning. Two to four inches of rain has already fallen across most of the warned area and another 2-5 inches with locally higher amounts are expected to fall today.

Ashe County Emergency Management would like to remind anyone that has campers, animals or other items that are near streams or rivers in low lying, flood-prone areas, to move them to higher ground.

Hurricane Helene is still in the Gulf of Mexico about 365 south of Apalachicola, Florida with maximum sustained wins of 100 mph, according to the latest update from the National Hurricane Center. The storm is currently moving about 12 mph and is expected to speed up over the next 24 hours. Hurricane Helene is expected to make landfall tonight or early Friday morning.

Currently, NWS expects the storm to make a turn to the northwest after landfall and move into the Tennessee Valley on Friday and Saturday. More rain will be coming to the High Country on Friday as the storm moves inland. A total of 6-12 inches of rain could fall in the area by the end of the week.