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By Steve Lyttle
slyttle@charlotteobserver.com
Slow-moving thunderstorms with very heavy rain are pounding parts of the Charlotte area Wednesday afternoon.
The National Weather Service has issued a flood advisory for parts of Mecklenburg, Union and Anson counties. The storms also are hitting areas across the border, in York, Lancaster and Chesterfield counties of South Carolina.
One hard-hit area Wednesday afternoon is SouthPark Mall. Automated gauges show more than 1.5 inches of rain fell in an hour between 2 and 3 p.m. That is the same area hit earlier this summer by a heavy storm that caused a partial roof cave-in at the mall. No problems have been reported so far in the area.
There are numerous reports of water ponding in the roads across southeastern Mecklenburg County, however.
The storm responsible for that rain is drifting slowly to the southeast and could affect southwest Union County soon .
Earlier, the National Weather Service warned of possible flooding in east-central Union County. Forecasters said up to 2 inches of rain have fallen since 1:30 p.m. a short distance north of Marshville, and the storm reponsible for that rainfall is moving southeast.
Additional heavy storms have formed along a corridor that includes southern parts of Cleveland, Gaston, Mecklenburg, Union and Anson counties in North Carolina, and Cherokee, York, Chester, Lancaster and Chesterfield counties in South Carolina.
The strong storms are expected to weaken this evening, with a drying trend forecast to begin across the region Thursday. The dry weather is expected to continue through Saturday, with a return to stormy, wet weather Sunday into next week.
