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It is common, and actually better than it used to be because they have better flood maps now. It's not life-threatening unless somebody decides to try to tube in a raging creek or drive through a flooded street. The worst it usually does is flood Crabtree Mall parking deck and some low-lying areas in Chapel Hill. There are some condos in Chapel Hill that frequently get flooded that the town of Chapel Hill has been trying to buy out, but the owners aren't taking the offers.
We get flash flood warnings several times a year and severe thunderstorm warnings all summer long. It's mostly not anything to be too worried about — just avoid low lying areas and go inside when it's thunder storming. Don't try to drive through water.
Yep...almost bought one of those! Village Greene townhomes have good layouts, a dog park, pool, tennis courts, and an excellent location off Franklin Street but are low lying near Bollin Creek and in a floodplain. That was a dealbreaker. If only they were further up the hill!!!!!!!
EDIT...I see the link you posted was referring to Camelot Village....yes those flood way more often than Village Green and VG is not being offered a buy-out.
Village Green is Elizabeth Street? Yeah, I'd think as long as you got one that was back toward the road and away from the creek there you'd be fine. I didn't realize that they had problems with flooding. It's mostly Camelot Village that I've heard about.
Village Green is Elizabeth Street? Yeah, I'd think as long as you got one that was back toward the road and away from the creek there you'd be fine. I didn't realize that they had problems with flooding. It's mostly Camelot Village that I've heard about.
About half of the units in Village Green flooded in the big July 2013 storm. When I was looking into buying one last year (which was later bought by an investor, done up with high-end finishes inside, and is now under contract with a list price 30k higher) that was the biggest thing on the disclosure. Granted the HOA fees included flood insurance for the whole neighborhood...but I still didn't want to have to deal with a flood if one came.
Well, I've never seen water spouts 10 feet tall gushing out of the sewers — that sounds like something out of Harry Potter! We do get creeks flooding not infrequently. Crabtree Creek in Raleigh is notorious. Crabtree Mall was built in the 70s in the floodplain of Crabtree Creek and the parking lot and parking deck has flooded pretty much ever since. Here's a vintage photo: Flooding of Crabtree Creek affects Crabtree Valley Mall :: WRAL.com
It was definitely like Harry Potter! The city's explanation was that the sewer and storm system was overwhelmed. Some of the storm sewers on low lying streets right next to the ocean emptied directly into the ocean (with warning signs about dumping stuff), so that may have been a factor also if it was high tide. Those iron sewer covers ended up floating down flooded streets after they landed, and ended up a long way from their original place, creating another hazard, if you accidentally drove over one of those sewers without a cover.....it would take out an axle! Bad situation on so many levels.
Rolling terrain in the Triangle leads to concentration of stormwater runoff in streams and creeks. There are no wide and deep rivers here; what people call "rivers" in the Triangle (Neuse, Eno) are just creeks. In many areas of the Triangle, the soil has high clay content that does not absorb water. Also, the area has acquired a large amount of impervious surfaces (e.g. parking lots) compared to 30-50 years ago.
And so, tropical storms and hurricanes that can easily produce 10 inches of rain in less than 24 hours have the potential to cause flooding in low-lying areas. It's easy to identify these. Local government has tried to manage the problem by building flood control lakes. Those have mitigated the problem but not entirely fixed it. If a particular tract of land flooded during Hurricane Fran (1996), Hurricane Floyd (1999), TS Alberto (2006), or Hurricane Matthew (2016), odds are it will flood again. But if a tract didn't flood in any of those four, you are probably safe. I live in north Raleigh on a ridge more than 200 feet above the elevation of Crabtree Creek at Crabtree Valley Mall. If my house floods, the world is in serious trouble.
Thanks for the good info. It's good to know how the tropical storms and hurricanes impact the inland NC cities such as the Raleigh area. People don't realize that TS and hurricanes can flood cities that are far from the coast.
Here in SE Michigan, we don't have to worry about hurricanes or tropical storms, but tornados on the other hand can be bad news, not to mention blizzards or below zero wind chills. Or a once-in-100-year wind storm (no precipitation) that occurred this past Monday and knocked out power to 1/3 of the entire state (3,000,000 without power at one point with temps diving into the 20's and below after the wind storm).
The unusually warm winter this year, heavy rain, and wet, unfrozen ground caused a huge number of trees to topple onto power lines during 65 mph winds, and over 9,000 lines came down in 3 southeast counties alone. I've never seen anything like it. Pine trees, for example, have very shallow roots, and lots of those came down. Every part of the country has weather hazards, and those are changing.
We get a fair amount of that pine trees coming down in high winds thing, but usually not in winter unless it's an ice storm. They are just bad news. Hurricane Matthew that came through in the fall did result in widespread power outages for over about 1 million homes and lots of flooding in the southeastern and eastern parts of the state. It wasn't too bad in the Triangle area. But that's certainly not an every year kind of weather event. We do have severe thunderstorms every summer, however.
In most years the greatest economic loss entailed in North Carolina from severe weather is probably due to summer thunderstorms. These storms usually affect only limited areas, but hail and wind occurring with some of them account for an average yearly loss of over $5 million. In any given locality, 40 or 50 thunderstorms may be expected in a year.
North Carolina is outside the principal tornado area of the United States, but still averages two to three per year. They occur mostly east of the Mountains during early spring.
Tropical hurricanes come close enough to influence North Carolina weather about twice in an average year. Much less frequently, perhaps averaging once in 10 years, these storms strike a part of the State with sufficient force to do much damage to inland property. Coastal properties occasionally suffer severe damage from associated high tides.
We get a fair amount of that pine trees coming down in high winds thing, but usually not in winter unless it's an ice storm. They are just bad news. Hurricane Matthew that came through in the fall did result in widespread power outages for over about 1 million homes and lots of flooding in the southeastern and eastern parts of the state. It wasn't too bad in the Triangle area. But that's certainly not an every year kind of weather event. We do have severe thunderstorms every summer, however.
I did ok in the big wind storm Monday and was lucky, no prolonged outages. I did have lights and internet going on and off all day long, but thankfully everything basically stayed on. During the storm, emergency services issued warnings that everyone should stay home and off the roads all day on Monday, unless it was an emergency, so that helped workers clean up the toppled trees and repair power lines.
I did drive to the grocery store on Monday evening, and I had to take several detours around town due to crews working around the clock with chainsaws in the cold and dark, removing huge trees from across the city streets and roads. Unreal! At the store, I bought a few frozen items and the checkout person asked me if I had power since so many people didn't have it. Fortunately I did and could purchase frozen food items. Glad that's over! Though there are still lots of street lights not working around the city. Big clean-up everywhere.
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