Carolina Beach residents shocked by extreme flooding

AccuWeather

Multiple people told AccuWeather that the amount of flooding in Carolina Beach on Sept. 16 was the worst they've ever seen, even considering past hurricanes.

Transcript

00:00Our team coverage continues right now with AccuWeather's Allie Reed.

00:03And she joins us now from Carolina Beach, North Carolina.

00:06It has been a heck of a day in this area, Allie.

00:12All right, guys, and we were talking about just that significant flooding.

00:15Many people walking outside of their businesses, their homes this afternoon,

00:18saying this is going to be a couple of weeks, potentially months for some of these people

00:23to really rebuild here. I want to give you a perspective.

00:26This is really fascinating here. This street that we're on right now,

00:29my photographer, Andy, who I've been working with,

00:32he was here back in June with his daughter, Madeline.

00:34I want to bring you this picture up on your screen for you.

00:37This is what this street looked like this time back in June.

00:42OK, now that you saw the picture, come back to me live.

00:45Take a look at it now. That is something for you, huh?

00:48What you're noticing right now is a few different things.

00:50That water now starting to recede back into the Atlantic Ocean,

00:53which just happens to be on the next block over here.

00:56That current very, very strong. Andy, can we get up close on my boots here?

01:01That gives you a good perspective of how fast moving this water is going back into the water.

01:06That is a positive sign here for many people this afternoon.

01:10Now into this evening, really just as that water goes down,

01:14a few things that we've seen here in this area.

01:16We've seen many sold out cars, unfortunately.

01:19And at this point, now that the heavy rain and wind has started to subside a bit,

01:25many people now trying to get back to their cars to see if maybe they can get out of these floodwaters.

01:30The other thing, many people now hanging out at local restaurants

01:33because a lot of them are family owned businesses in this area,

01:36really starting to assess the damage here.

01:39We do have some sound from a man who's been here for more than 20 years.

01:42Really, really interesting stuff.

01:44Take a listen to this. Just how devastating this is for many people.

01:48I've never seen anything like this in about 20 years.

01:51It's pretty much the craziest event we've ever seen, especially for an unnamed storm.

01:57We just had another friend of ours who lives down the road on Canal Drive and he lost everything.

02:01He's in construction.

02:02He has a trailer and truck that's under four foot of water in his yard right now.

02:07I mean, it's pretty devastating to be honest with you.

02:12And many things in this area also disheveled today.

02:15Again, just pointing your direction here.

02:16Look at that recycling bin in the middle of the street.

02:19Not only that, but farther in the distance, you'll notice that police do have this area blocked off.

02:24You'll notice plenty of police, city officials in this area too.

02:27But the biggest thing, there have been a ton, a ton of rescues, live rescues today.

02:33People getting out of their homes, out of their cars to safety.

02:37We see someone.

02:38Hi there. How's it going?

02:39You're watching us.

02:40We're live on the AccuWeather Network.

02:42Do you live in the area?

02:43Yeah, I do.

02:43I live down in Curry Beach.

02:44What's your name?

02:45Stone Davenport.

02:46Stone.

02:46Yes, ma'am.

02:47I like that name.

02:48Obviously very shocking, very devastating to see this.

02:50What's going through your mind?

02:52I've never seen it like this before.

02:53This is the most flooded it's ever been.

02:55I've lived here 15 years, my entire life.

02:57And I've just, I've never even seen it like this before.

03:00I got it.

03:00I'm meeting my friend up there and I'm getting a ride up to the north end.

03:03I don't even know if I'm going to be able to make it up because it's so flooded.

03:05Okay.

03:06So you are texting back and forth, phone calls with your friends.

03:08What's everyone else saying around town?

03:10Everybody just can't believe how flooded it is.

03:12I mean, even over by the lake, you see there's trucks and cars.

03:15There was a truck that was in the lake earlier today that somebody saw.

03:18And there was a truck that was fully covered up to the roof and the very top of the car.

03:22It's just tragic.

03:23And I need to ask, how did your home make it out?

03:26We made it out good.

03:28We're up on a hill, just like nine feet above the sea level.

03:31So breathing above it.

03:32Breathing a sigh of relief.

03:33Yes, ma'am.

03:33I had a buddy though, who lived right over by the lake and his bedroom is like this deep of water.

03:39Just his bedroom is just covered up to his bed.

03:41Wow.

03:41It sounds like from talking to people here that it could potentially be weeks,

03:44if not months for them to rebuild.

03:46Absolutely.

03:46I mean, I've never seen anything like this.

03:49I think they messed up draining the lake or something because usually they dredge it.

03:53They drain a lot more water in the lake.

03:54And before the storm, they didn't look like they drained a lot of water for it.

03:58Well, I think unfortunately, as we were talking, many people,

04:01this was a significant storm, even though it wasn't named, causing a ton of damage.

04:05Stone, thank you very much.

04:07It was nice to meet you.

04:08Ali, pleasure.

04:09Watch us on AccuWeather.

04:10Guys, we're going to continue to follow this for you.

04:12I mean, really just incredible, devastating stuff here.

04:16Unfortunately, here in Carolina Beach.

04:17You know, just stick with us with Jeff.

04:19Jeff and I will handle this radar.

04:21All right, Ali, do be careful.

04:22What was struck, Jeff and I, was the current.

04:25Yeah, absolutely.

04:26The current is something that we're not expecting to see.

04:30There's this single rain band here.

04:32And you know, Jeff, I've been talking about this all morning.

04:34It's almost as if you have a go.

04:36If you have your garden hose outside and instead of it being on a spray,

04:42it's on a single stream or jet.

04:45And that's what we're looking at with this rain band.

04:47It's almost like a microcosm of an atmospheric river,

04:50but just directed into a countywide scale,

04:53which has been a tremendously hard hit area for the South.

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