Hurricane Florence may have breached the Energy Duke Dam in North Carolina

A day after Duke Energy Corp. (DUK) had triggered a high-level emergency alert in a coal-fired power plant at retirement due to the rising waters of Hurricane Florence, which could damage a nearby dam, the company has and coal ash could spill into the Cape Fear River.

Duke Energy shut down the 625 megawatt natural gas plant at the site.

The Ministry of Energy and Mineral and Terrestrial Resources of North Carolina has not sent a request for comments on the situation.

The floodwaters passed an earthen embankment on the north side of Sutton Lake, which is a 1,100-acre reservoir located at L.V. Sutton Power Station. Flood waters have also drilled a steel retaining wall that contains one of three large coal ash dumps on the shores of the lake.

The current situation is different from another break in a coal ash dump located nearby and reported on the site last weekend. This gap dumped enough coal ash to fill 180 dump trucks.

On the current violation site, the company said staff were supplementing the supplies on site with stone and other materials.

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