Excessive rain from Tropical Storm Isaias caused nearly 3,700 gallons (14,006 liters) of sewage to spill into a river in North Carolina, officials said.
The discharge happened at the Clinchfield sewer pump station in Marion when rainfall entered into the collection system Monday, the city said in a news release. The untreated waste water then spilled into an “unnamed tributary of Lake James” in the Catawba River Basin, the release said.
McDowell County, where Marion is located, saw an average of 3 to 4.5 inches of rainfall, the McDowell News reported.
About 3,500 gallons of untreated water was discharged into the Catawba River Basin from the same sewer pump in May, the McDowell News previously reported. City officials had said that spill was also caused by excessive rain.
Marion is about 96 miles northwest of Charlotte.
At least six people are dead after Tropical Storm Isaias spawned tornadoes and dumped rain during an inland march up the U.S. East Coast on Tuesday. Two people were killed after one of those tornadoes flattened a mobile home park in Windsor, North Carolina.
Isaias made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane in North Carolina, where it caused floods and fires that displaced dozens of people. It was later downgraded to a tropical storm on its way to the Northeast. The National Hurricane Center said late Tuesday night that Isaias was moving north into Canada.
The town of Oak Island in Brunswick County ordered a mandatory evacuation starting Wednesday at noon as a result of the damage caused by Isaias. The evacuation is for residents and non-residents on the west side of the island. A curfew is also in effect for the town from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. until further notice.
WUNC's Mitchell Northam and Celeste Gracia contributed to this report.
