‘Potentially deadly’ flooding shown in video as storm makes landfall

“Life-threatening” flooding caused by potential tropical cyclone eight was captured on camera Monday as the storm made landfall near the North Carolina-South Carolina border.

The National Hurricane Center (NHC) began issuing advisories on the storm Sunday, which was moving off the southeastern coast of the United States at the time, and warned of its impact of “life-threatening” flash flooding in a social media post. job Meteorologists have been tracking the storm, which had a high chance of strengthening into Tropical Storm Helene, the eighth named storm of the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season. However, while the storm reached tropical storm strength, it never achieved the structure needed to be classified as a tropical storm, said Dan Brown, branch chief of the NHC’s hurricane unit. Newsweek.

Although it was never classified as a tropical storm, the storm brings numerous threats to North Carolina, where video footage revealed the extent of flash flooding that occurred at Carolina Beach in the southeastern part of the state.

“A wild flash flood is currently occurring in #carolinabeach and southeast #NorthCarolina,” documentary filmmaker Jonathan Petramala wrote on X, formerly Twitter, on Monday. His post included a video of the widespread flooding that covered the city.

The National Weather Service (NWS) office in Wilmington, North Carolina, also commented on the severity of the floodwaters.

“Roads are flooded at least 3 feet deep in parts of Carolina Beach,” NWS Wilmington told X, with a photo showing floodwaters halfway up a pickup truck. “No car or truck is designed to safely navigate floodwaters this deep. Please stay off the roads.”

Roads are flooded at least 3 feet deep in parts of Carolina Beach. No car or truck is designed to safely travel through flood waters that deep. Please stay off the roads. #ncwx
(Photo by Ashely MacBride at Carolina Beach) pic.twitter.com/CbwLbsqc2E

— NWS Wilmington, NC (@NWSWilmingtonNC) September 16, 2024

More than a foot of rain fell in the Carolina Beach area, which is “extremely unusual,” NWS meteorologist Tim Armstrong said. NewsweekThe storm now threatens to bring heavy rain, between 3 and 6 inches, to Brunswick, North Carolina.

Armstrong said it will take time for floodwaters from Carolina Beach to drain, as high tide will occur at 6:30 p.m. local time tonight. However, once high tide passes, floodwaters will drain quickly, he added.

Calm weather is expected for the next few days, which will facilitate cleanup operations, Armstrong added.

Rainfall is one of the storm’s biggest threats, Brown said, along with tropical storm-force winds and the threat of tornadoes.

“Those winds are already diminishing and will continue to diminish as the system moves inland,” Brown said, adding that the threat of locally heavy rain will shift to the mid-Atlantic states over the next few days.

As of Monday afternoon, a tropical storm warning, a flash flood warning and a tornado warning, among numerous other weather-related warnings, were in effect for coastal North Carolina and South Carolina.

In addition to potential tropical cyclone eight, the NHC is also tracking tropical depression Gordon.