Flash Flood — Mecklenburg, North Carolina

2025-06-12 · near Shopton, Mecklenburg, North Carolina

Event narrative

Stream gauges and the media reported flash flooding developed across south Charlotte after 2.5 to 5 inches of rain fell across the area due to slow-moving, repeating thunderstorms. Most of the major streams in this part of the city overflowed their banks and inundated adjacent roads, greenways, and residential yards, including Little Hope Creek, Edwards Branch, and Little Sugar Creek. The most significant flooding occurred along Steele Creek in the Steele Creek community, which inundated a mobile home park. Multiple manufactured homes were inundated in this area, and multiple vehicles were largely subsumed in water. Around 30 swift water rescues occurred throughout the city during the event, with most of these occurring in the mobile home park. Thirteen people were also rescued from their vehicles near Freedom Park (Little Sugar Creek). McMullen Creek also experienced severe flooding, with water entering the crawl spaces of some homes and cutting off access to others.

Wider weather episode

Scattered thunderstorms and small storm clusters developed across the North Carolina Piedmont during the evening. Several of these clusters moved over south Charlotte, where multiple storms moved repeatedly over the same locations. Very heavy rainfall and significant flash flooding resulted. One of the storms also produced hail over Charlotte.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (35.1530, -80.9710)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1277901. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.