Days of relentless rain could ‘reflood’ Charlotte area roads, forecasters warn
Days of relentless rain could “re-flood” roads in the Charlotte region this week, the National Weather Prediction Center warned.
Moisture from the Gulf is forecast to “ride along a slow moving front Monday/Monday night, feeding showers and thunderstorms that produce heavy rainfall in areas that saw heavy rain and flooding Thursday and Thursday night,” center officials tweeted Saturday. “The wet conditions support an enhanced flash flood threat.”
The moisture is expected to cover a vast, multi-state area from the Deep South through the Carolinas and part of Virginia through the week.
On Thursday, numerous roads flooded in Mecklenburg and surrounding counties from a line of severe storms that left two dead in the area and thousands without power.
As of Saturday afternoon, National Weather Service damage assessment teams had confirmed five tornadoes in the Charlotte area during Thursday’s severe weather.
Union County declared a state of emergency Thursday night after more than 70 roads flooded.
On Saturday, Lincoln County emergency crews made “welfare checks” at 11 homes cut off from vehicle access when a culvert collapsed due to Thursday’s heavy rains, according to a county news release. The homes are on Daybrook Court in the Cedarbrook subdivision of Catawba Springs Township, officials said.
Enjoy Sunday’s expected sunny skies, “likely the only truly quiet day of the upcoming week,” NWS forecasters said in a forecast statement Saturday.
The heaviest amount of rain could fall Monday night and early Tuesday in the region, with showers persisting until Thursday night, forecasters said. Up to 2 inches of rain could fall through the week, on top of the roughly 3 to 7 inches that two recent systems delivered, NWS meteorologists said.
At least it should be relatively warm, with forecast highs of 61 Monday, 66 Tuesday and 59 Wednesday, according to the NWS forecast at 6 p.m. Saturday. The historic average daily high during winter in Charlotte is 50 degrees.
This story was originally published February 9, 2020 at 12:19 PM.