Flooded neighborhoods, fields, roads, parks and wooded areas faced rampaging rivers Thursday and Friday across North Carolina, following the passage of Tropical Storm Debby.

Other areas are still anticipating major flooding in coming days as rain continued to fall through early Friday and runoff will take time to converge through creeks and streams to the state’s major rivers closer to the coast.

Tornadoes touched down in several places, with one fatality reported, and significant localized damage to property and crops.

Course of the storm

Debby initially formed east of the Caribbean and moved west across the islands before turning north into the Gulf of Mexico and making landfall in the Big Bend area of Florida, near Tallahassee on Aug. 4. The storm then weakened to a tropical system and moved across Georgia to the Atlantic Ocean.

Back over water Debby regained some of its strength and slowly moved back on land north of Charleston, South Carolina. As the storm turned, it brought heavy and prolonged rains to many parts of southern North Carolina, especially between Lumberton and the coast.

Late Thursday, the center of Debby moved into North Carolina’s Piedmont region between Charlotte and Fayetteville, with the heaviest rain falling to the east. By Friday morning, the storm had dropped below tropical strength and was far to the north in Virginia, moving toward the Mid-Atlantic states, which are also bracing for heavy rain and wind.

North Carolina continues to deal with ongoing flooding and beginning to assess the scope of the damage and recovery ahead.

Flooding in different spots at different times

While hot spots on the Rocky River in Stanley and Anson Counties, the Haw River in Alamance and Chatham counties and the Lumber River in Robeson County saw major flooding Thursday and Friday from Debby, floods in those places should recede while concerns continue elsewhere.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Water Prediction Service also issued forecasts Friday morning for moderate to major flooding over the next few days in Cumberland, Duplin, Edgecombe, Franklin, Johnston, Nash and Sampson counties.

As of Friday morning, the place most heavily affected by flooding is the city of Lumberton in Robeson county, although other communities currently under a flood watch are preparing for water levels to peak today and Saturday.

The Town of Haw River in Alamance County, a small Piedmont town that sits halfway between Greensboro and Durham, declared its own state of emergency on Thursday and issued a voluntary evacuation order for residents most likely to be affected by flooding.

“We’ve had major floods over the years, but of this magnitude the last time was 1996, Hurricane Fran,” Town Manager Sean Tencer told Carolina Public Press on Thursday.

Chris Saul, the director of emergency management for Alamance County, told CPP that their department staged water rescue assets in the Haw River in case they are needed following Debby.

Further east, communities along the Tar River are also preparing for potentially damaging flooding. Edgecombe County is home to several flood-prone communities including Rocky Mount, Tarboro and Princeville. All three towns are expecting some amount of flooding over the next couple days.

Antawn Brown, the director of emergency management in Edgecombe County and a resident of Princeville, said communication between local governments and their residents will be essential in such events.

“I know first hand what it looks like on the other side and so that experience makes it a high priority to have the Princeville community in the know,” Brown told CPP in an email.

“We have several swift water teams and high water clearance vehicles stationed in our area regularly, so being intentional with those assets is critical.”

Winds and floods damage homes and crops

The CPP news team on Thursday visited the site where, around 2 p.m. Wednesday, a tornado had touched down on Bland School Road in Harrells, destroying a Sampson County house.

The winds ripped the roof off, flattened the corn in the field, brought down huge trees and tossed mattresses into the backyard. The family inside responded to an emergency alert on their phone and evacuated in time, avoiding any injury. 

“That highlights the importance of the warning system, and having a plan, and then using the plan,” Sampson County emergency management coordinator Jared Rouse told Carolina Public Press.

“During these events we get a lot of alerts on our phones, and we tend to ignore them, but those folks put their plan into action, went to their safe place and there was no injury because of that.”

The National Weather Service planned to visit Harrells on Friday to conduct a formal assessment and determine the exact strength of the tornado. The American Red Cross is assisting the affected family.

Sampson County’s emergency department received only one other call during Debby: on Thursday afternoon, a driver had to be rescued after attempting to drive a car over a flooded stretch of road. Since then, the 911 call volume has returned to normal.

“The flooding forecast for the southern end of the county has actually improved,” Rouse said.

“The Black River was forecast to crest at above 27 feet, which would have been very similar to Hurricane Matthew. But this morning it was brought down to 22 feet, which is just within the major flooding window.”

Flooding on the Black River will crest on Monday at 8 p.m. 

“River flooding is just a waiting game,” Rouse said. “But we have plans in place should we experience anything very serious.”

The Lumber River was forecast to rise to a crest of 20.4 feet at 8 p.m. on Friday. The river will be in the major flood category until 8 p.m. on Sunday. But flooding and damage from Debby were already clear as a CPP reporter observed the area on Thursday.

“I know there’s a couple places where water is still standing in some neighborhoods,” Tammy McLeod, Lumberton emergency services director, told CPP.

“We had a few cars that got flooded out, and lost some power within the city, but now the roads are clear and everybody’s power is back on. The river is doing pretty good.”

On Wednesday, Robeson County extension director Mac Malloy said he thought the river had some room to rise — it was flowing at just over 11.5 feet at the time — so flooding, while it would occur, would likely not be devastating. His prediction was correct.

The soil in the county’s crop fields, however, did not have room for more water.

“We’ve had some pretty significant rain events in the past few weeks, so our water-holding capacity in the soil is pretty much full,” Malloy said before the storm.

“The sponge is already wet, if you will. It won’t take a whole lot of extra water to fill up that sponge, and cause flooding in the fields and runoff.”

Robeson County experienced a severe drought in mid-July, which rendered the crops fragile.

“Some of the very weakened corn stalks will get beat up or lodged because of the wind, which will just make harvesting that much harder,” Malloy said. 

“There’s a possibility of significant crop injury, because we’re still in early August: cotton, soybeans, and peanuts are still in the early vegetative stage. Long-term ponding in the fields will mean less oxygen in the soil, and we can see plants die at that point.”

Malloy is also concerned about the possibility of municipal waste or industrial contaminants leaking into the flood water and field runoff.

The Rocky River, which runs along the border between Anson and Stanly Counties near Norwood rose swiftly as Debby approached. The stream was around 5 feet deep at 3:30am on Thursday, but By Thursday night, it had risen almost 25 feet.  

Anson County emergency services told CPP that because the area near the Rocky River is so rural, they saw no increase in emergency calls over the past few days.

A CPP news team member on site witnessed primarily flooding of woodlands and public lands near the river. 

Further south in Anson County, flooding on the Pee Dee River had not yet reached its peak as of Friday morning. The water level is expected to increase steadily through the next few days, shifting from a minor flood to a moderate flood on by about 8 p.m. Sunday, and is not expected to crest until Wednesday morning, though it should remain just short of major flood status.

Government response to Debby

As the state and federal governments coordinate with local officials to assess storm damage and prepare for steps for recovery, the state is well-positioned thanks to early recognition that Debbie would be a catastrophic event.

Gov. Roy Cooper declared a state of emergency Monday, which President Joe Biden approved, allowing for federal disaster assistance to supplement state and local response efforts. 

Representatives of several of these counties told Carolina Public Press that they are working in conjunction with local officials and state and federal emergency management to prepare for potential river flooding after Debby.

Storm impact on November elections

Neither the State Board of Elections nor county elections officials anticipates storm-related impacts on the upcoming election. 

“County election workers certainly will have to catch up, as this is an extremely busy time, especially for voter registration and preparing for poll worker training,” said Patrick Gannon, state board public information officer.

“As the storm exits the area, county directors will make sure their early voting sites and polling places have not been damaged, and if they are, determine whether they can be repaired in time for voting, or whether new sites must be located.”

Previous natural disasters in North Carolina also occurred closer to elections. In 2016, Hurricane Matthew made landfall four weeks before polls opened, and in 2018, Hurricane Florence struck seven weeks prior. 

Tropical Storm Debby passed through North Carolina much earlier, 10 weeks before early voting begins. Because Debby also came up through inland South Carolina, rather than making landfall on the North Carolina coast, the effect on coastal and Outer Banks counties is less.

Margot Burke, Carteret County deputy director of elections, said Debby would not impact the coastal county’s election operations. 

“We have not trained our precinct officials, we don’t have ballots to send out to our absentee, by-mail voters, early voting doesn’t start until mid-October, so this has no effect on us whatsoever,” Burke said. 

The interim elections director in neighboring Jones County, Jennifer King, said there aren’t any concerns as of Thursday afternoon. 

“Our building didn’t flood with Florence or Floyd, so all of our equipment should be fine (after Debby),” she said, acknowledging that the impact appears less than in those earlier storms. 

The situation is still being assessed in inland counties that are dealing with downed trees, flash floods and river flooding from Debby. But officials are optimistic that any effect will be minimal.

Alamance County Elections Director Dawn Hurdle said if there is an issue that causes them to shut down one early voting site, they still have four open and will work with emergency management to take care of voters. 

Andrew Richards, Davidson County elections director, said he’ll know more in the coming days about any damage to polling places, but does not expect any issues. He added that there would be enough time to relocate polling places if they are damaged. 

Storm-displaced voters can claim their permanent residence as their address when they vote, as long as they intend to return, Richards said. If they move permanently, they can change their address. 

Since Gov. Roy Cooper and President Joe Biden declared a state of emergency within 100 days of the election, voters who lose their photo IDs as a result of Debby can fill out an exception form at the polls, and cast a provisional ballot stating that they were a victim of a natural disaster. 

“Having an early storm like this one means our emergency management partners are honing their skills and putting their planning into practice,” the state board statement read. “This is a good trial run for emergency response in case another storm comes closer to election time.” 

Carolina Public Press news staff members Jane Winik Sartwell, Lucas Thomae, Sarah Michels and Frank Taylor contributed to this report.

Photo gallery: NC storm scenes

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