Parts of southeastern North Carolina were still underwater Tuesday after a storm that wasn’t quite organized enough to get a name dropped historic amounts of rain on an area that has suffered floods of a lifetime at least four other times in the past 25 years.
The flash flooding closed dozens of roads in Brunswick County, including U.S. Highway 17, which is the main coastal route. Floodwaters swamped the highway at several points for most of the day, trapping some drivers on high ground that became an island.
Emergency workers brought food and water to people as they waited for the waters to recede, Brunswick County emergency officials said. No deaths were reported but dozens of roads in the county were damaged and many washed out.
Monday’s deluge centered on Carolina Beach south of Wilmington, where more than 18 inches (46 centimeters) of rain fell in 12 hours. That amount of rain in that period of time qualifies as a so-called 1,000-year flood expected only once in a that era, meteorologists at the National Weather Service office in Wilmington said.