2,548 first-hand accounts of flood events in North Carolina, ranked by impact. Each is a NOAA-written narrative of the moment.
Very heavy rain from Hurricane Floyd, falling on soils saturated by heavy rain of the previous 3 weeks, produced widespread flooding and flash flooding across northeast North Carolina, from the Roanoke River eastward.
Read the full account →Flooding began shortly after midnight across much of the northern mountains and northern foothills. The hardest hit locations were northern McDowell, Mitchell and Avery Counties, where flooding was at least as severe as that which accompanied Frances.
Read the full account →Persistent moderate to heavy rain led to widespread flooding along numerous creeks and streams across the northern foothills and northern mountains during the early evening. By early morning on the 8th, flooding was described as some of the worst in the history of the area.
Read the full account →A deep amplitude east coast upper trough closed off across the southeast states for several days while a surface front meandered across the area. Deep moisture from the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean continued to feed into the area.
Read the full account →Scattered, slow-moving thunderstorms developed over western North Carolina during the early morning hours. Multiple slow-moving storms moved over southern Cleveland County, resulting in up to 5 inches of rain falling in a short period of time, followed by localized flash…
Read the full account →Hurricane Florence was a long-lived Cape Verde hurricane and the wettest tropical cyclone on record in the Carolinas. The sixth named storm, third hurricane, and the first major hurricane of the 2018 Atlantic hurricane season, Florence originated from a strong tropical wave that…
Read the full account →Tropical moisture and heavy rain overspread western North Carolina throughout the 28th through the morning of the 29th as the center of Tropical Storm Zeta moved quickly from the mouth of the Mississippi River into the southern Appalachians.
Read the full account →Unseasonably high moisture interacted with a stationary, weakening frontal boundary to produce heavy rainfall across western North Carolina throughout the 11th.
Read the full account →Enhanced southerly flow advected warm, moist air into the region ahead of a diving shortwave trough and attendant cold front. This resulted in sufficient moisture, strong shear and marginal instability to produce a line of showers and strong thunderstorms.
Read the full account →A series of upper-level disturbances moved northeast across a stationary cold front situated over central NC in a moist and unstable atmosphere.
Read the full account →A powerful winter storm pumped abundant moisture on very strong southerly winds into western North Carolina. The result was nearly 15 million dollars in damage across the mountains and foothills as up to 15 inches of rain fell on the higher terrain, causing significant to major…
Read the full account →The remnants of Tropical Storm Fay stalled just west of the Appalachian mountains, resulting in a prolonged, moist south to southeasterly flow over western North Carolina.
Read the full account →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.
Read the full account →Tropical Storm Michael moved through North Carolina on Thursday, October 11th. Michael brought heavy rain and strong damaging winds to central North Carolina.
Read the full account →Tropical Storm Michael moved through North Carolina on Thursday, October 11th. Michael brought heavy rain and strong damaging winds to central North Carolina.
Read the full account →Flash flooding that originated on August 31st continued across portions of the northeast Piedmont and central Coastal Plain of central North Carolina during the early morning hours of September 1st.
Read the full account →Tropical Storm Michael moved through North Carolina on Thursday, October 11th. Michael brought heavy rain and strong damaging winds to central North Carolina.
Read the full account →Tropical Storm Michael moved through North Carolina on Thursday, October 11th. Michael brought heavy rain and strong damaging winds to central North Carolina.
Read the full account →Tropical Storm Michael moved through North Carolina on Thursday, October 11th. Michael brought heavy rain and strong damaging winds to central North Carolina.
Read the full account →Tropical Storm Michael moved through North Carolina on Thursday, October 11th. Michael brought heavy rain and strong damaging winds to central North Carolina.
Read the full account →Hurricane Isaias made landfall in southeast North Carolina, then moved north through coastal North Carolina. Significant rain fell across the Coastal Plain, Sandhills and eastern Piedmont of North Carolina as Isaias moved northward through the state along with gusty winds up to…
Read the full account →A powerful winter storm pumped abundant moisture on very strong southerly winds into western North Carolina. The result was nearly 15 million dollars in damage across the mountains and foothills as up to 15 inches of rain fell on the higher terrain, causing significant to major…
Read the full account →The forecast area remained sandwiched between an unseasonably deep trough aloft to the west and a ridge to the east. This resulted in a persistent very moist air mass and with soils already saturated, two rounds of heavy rain resulted in flash flooding, first in the early…
Read the full account →Hurricane Matthew skirted by the North Carolina coast on October 8, 2016, dropping torrential rainfall of 8 to 15 inches and producing wind gusts of 50 to 70 mph across Central and Eastern North Carolina.
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