Despite not being a named storm, Monday’s tropical system dumped over 15 inches of rain on some coastal areas of the Cape Fear Region, and there have been wind gusts of more than 60 miles per hour.
The rain, combined with a king tide, has put areas of Carolina Beach underwater.
One family from Smithfield, North Carolina was staying at an AirBNB in the town when water started getting into the building. They hopped in their truck to escape, but were caught in severe flooding near Carolina Lake. Luckily, former lifeguard Mitchell McDowell noticed their truck from his condo balcony nearby. He watched it for a while, then finally saw movement inside.
“So I was like, ‘Oh, that's not good.’ And I ended up stepping outside looking in there, and saw three people in the truck. One was an older man, his wife and their child,” McDowell said.
McDowell jumped into action. He grabbed his surfboard and some lifejackets, and waded through chest-high water to the stranded truck.
“We had to lift him on the board and push him to the street where he could stand,” he said of the older man.
McDowell and a few other bystanders worked together to get the family to dry ground, then brought their belongings to them.
That wasn’t the only rescue in Carolina Beach Monday. According to Town Manager Bruce Oakley, dozens of people have been rescued from flooded homes and vehicles. The town was caught off guard by torrential rain overnight.
“We had nearly 14 inches in some places, 20 inches of rain in 12 hours,” Oakley said. “We did declare a state emergency, but we did not order any kind of evacuations, because this, you know, happened so quickly.”
Oakley said no stormwater systems are designed for that amount of rain in such a short period of time. But now that the rain has slowed down, floodwaters are starting to recede again.
“It just poured on us for hours and hours. I've never seen anything like it,” Oakley said. While dozens of homes and businesses have been impacted, the town doesn’t have an exact tally of the damage yet.
Photos from the area show cars and trucks mostly submerged. Carolina Beach Elementary had to evacuate students on short notice, and 12 students were transported by emergency responders using high-water vehicles because their families couldn't safely reach the school.
Carolina Beach resident Stef O’Connor said the wind has been intense.
“Earlier it had been like, you know, probably 50 mile an hour winds. I felt my roof of my house lifting up. I need to go inspect my attic,” she said.
O’Connor says the flood waters are up to the window height of a car or truck in some areas of town. The Cape Fear Region is projected to get another 2 to 5 inches of rain throughout the day.
While Carolina beach has been severely impacted, Oakley is confident the town will recover quickly. “We're resilient and we’ll have it like you wouldn't know it happened in a day or two.”
His advice in the meantime is to stay away from floodwater and avoid driving, if you can. “Turn around, don’t drown”.
