Flood — Chatham, North Carolina

2018-09-17 to 2018-09-21 · near Bennett, Chatham, North Carolina

Event narrative

Torrential rainfall of 10 to 15 inches caused widespread flooding across the county. Additional rainfall upstream caused major flooding along the Deep River near Moncure and along the Haw River near Bynum. Flooding damaged approximately 107 structures throughout the county, destroying 3, resulting in approximately $6.33 million in property damage and and at least $20 million in crop damage. Numerous roads were closed due to flooding. Numerous homes and businesses were flooded as well.

Wider weather episode

A ridge of high pressure over eastern North America stalled Florence's forward motion a few miles off the southeast North Carolina coast on September 13th. Hurricane Florence made landfall near Wrightsville Beach early on Saturday September 15, and weakened further as it moved slowly inland. Despite making landfall as a weakened

Category 1 hurricane, Florence still produced 40 to 70 mph wind gusts, enough wind speed to uproot trees and cause widespread power outages throughout the Carolinas. As the storm moved inland, from September 15 to 17, heavy rain of 10 to 25 inches caused widespread inland flooding, inundating cities such as Fayetteville, Smithfield, Goldsboro, Durham, and Chapel Hill, and causing major river flooding on main-stem rivers such as the Neuse, Cape Fear, and Little River. Most major roads and highways in the area experienced some flooding, with large stretches of I-40 and I-95 remaining impassable for days after the storm had passed. The storm also spawned tornadoes in several places along its path. There were 3 direct and 6 indirect deaths attributed to the storm with in the WFO RAH CWA.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (35.5209, -79.5577)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 787179. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.