Oct 8, 2016
Major Hurricane Matthew moved up the southeast coast and slowly weakened to a category 1 storm as it moved up along the South Carolina coast and then eastward near the North Carolina coast. The hurricane brought 6 to 12 inches of rain and up to 18 inches to some areas of southeast North Carolina, with the bulk of the rainfall occurring within a 12 hour period. This rain fell on wet to in some cases saturated soil due to much above normal rainfall in September. The result was historic flooding;
Source: NOAA National Weather Service Storm Events Database (event 663564). Narrative written by NWS staff at the time of the event.
This event is one of many recorded floods in Columbus County. See the full FEMA flood zone map, NFIP claim totals, and disaster history for the area.