Flash Flood — Mecklenburg, North Carolina

1999-01-23 · near Charlotte, Mecklenburg, North Carolina

Wider weather episode

Unseasonably warm, moist air and strong winds through a deep layer of the atmosphere combined to produce a line of thunderstorms along a cold front advancing east across North Carolina. Some of these storms became severe, bringing damaging wind speeds to the surface in some of the southern and central mountain counties. Wind speeds were reported in the 60 to 70 mph range with a measured gust recorded on Flat Top Mountain (elev . 4320 ft) to 78 mph. A 9 mile long damage path through Mills River and northern Henderson county was initially 100 yards wide, then narrowed to between 25 and 50 yards. Numerous trees and power lines were downed. Light structural damage occurred in Macon county. A tree fell on a home in Brevard causing substantial damage, and a roof was blown off a building in eastern Buncombe county. Extensive power outages occurred in the Skyland vicinity as well.Training thunderstorms in the Charlotte metro area dumped up to 1.5 inches of rain in a half hour during the afternoon. This caused severe urban flooding in low-lying paved areas. A man stepped into a storm drain, then was swept into a creek and drown. A few roads were flooded and underwater and a few small streams came out of their banks briefly. Lightning caused a house fire in Salisbury, burning all it's contents. The lightning was reported to have come in through a phone line.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 5680925. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.