Flash Flood — Robeson, North Carolina

2018-09-15 · near Lumberton, Robeson, North Carolina

Event narrative

Route 1588 was closed and impassable. Flooding as also reported on Pine Log Road and Hwy 711. Flooding was also reported on Briarcliff Lane. A male drove into a sinkhole and died.

Wider weather episode

Hurricane Florence began its long Atlantic trek from the Cape Verde Islands in early September. It made landfall near Wrightsville Beach during the morning of September 14th. The barometric pressure at landfall was 959 millibars, or 28.32 inches.The strongest winds were recorded at 106 mph at Cape Lookout, as well as 105 mph measured at the Wilmington International Airport. In addition to the strong storm surge, there was historic rainfall totals of 20 to 25 inches, with isolated totals of 35 inches in parts of Bladen and Robeson counties. Flash Flooding was severe and widespread, with many communities experiencing flooding for the first time. River flooding was epic, with dozens of main highways impassible. Significant flooding occurred for weeks after the storm had departed. The hurricane spawned 19 tornadoes, one causing significant damage to 8 structures in the Sydney community in Columbus county. The community at Lake Waccamaw experienced more damage than Hurricane Floyd in 1999, the previous benchmark for the area. In Pender County, over 6000 structures had damage, with 2800 structures suffered major damage or were destroyed altogether. Damage estimates from wind and water are in the tens of billions of dollars, making it one of the costliest hurricanes ever.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (34.6145, -79.0163)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 786489. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.