Heavy Rain — Polk, North Carolina

2018-05-28 · near Valhalla, Polk, North Carolina

Event narrative

EM reported two broadcast journalists were killed when a tree fell on their vehicle as they were driving on Highway 176. The tree fell due to saturated ground from the more than one foot of rain that fell over western Polk County during the latter half of May.

Wider weather episode

Very wet soil conditions resulting from periods of heavy rainfall that began during the middle part of May and continued through the end of the month, producing more than a foot of rain in many locations caused a tree to fall on a vehicle on Highway 176, which resulted in two fatalities.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (35.2230, -82.2930)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 760172. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.