By rssfeeds-admin 
Leaders in a town in Moore County, under a steady torrent of rain as the storm stalled and then pivoted northward Sunday afternoon, called the deluge a 500- to 1,000-year flood event.
Southern Pines was hit with nearly half a billion gallons in just hours on Sunday, knocking down a dam and a retaining wall that led to businesses flooding.
“Tropical Storm Chantal brought an extraordinary amount of rainfall in a very short time,” Southern Pines Mayor Taylor Clement said in a news release. “This was one of the most intense weather events Moore County has seen.”
Just after the storm barreled north over Chatham, Alamance, Orange, Durham and Person counties, more than 120 roads in the state were closed by flooding or being washed out. Even Interstate 40/85 was closed by flooding late Sunday.
By Monday night, the NCDOT reported 71 roads were closed by Sunday flooding or damage — with the number down to 65 by Tuesday. Of those closed Tuesday, 27 alone were in Chatham County, Sheriff Mike Roberson said.
The storm’s impacts were also deadly — killing a man and three women who were driving amid the flooded roads. An 83-year-old woman from Pittsboro was killed when her Audi sedan was swept off a rural Chatham County road by floodwaters Sunday night, according to the North Carolina State Highway Patrol.
Responding troopers found the submerged vehicle about 100 feet from Farrington Point Road, and Sandra Portnoy Hirschman was found dead inside, officials said.
Late Monday afternoon, another driver, Monica Butner, 58, was found dead after she vanished while driving to work during Chantal flooding Sunday night, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office said. The Person County woman’s empty car was found Monday morning on Wilkerson Road near Whitetail Run in the Cedar Grove community, but Butner was not found until later Monday, officials said.
One man was found dead Tuesday in Jordan Lake after he and another man vanished while in a canoe on the lake late Sunday afternoon, Chatham County deputies said. One man is still missing after the empty canoe was found Sunday night, prompting an intensive search.
In nearby Alamance County, two drivers died Sunday night, with details about both released on Tuesday.
A woman was driving Sunday night southeast of Graham in the area of S. Jim Minor Road and Graham Smith Drive, according to Alamance County deputies. Crews searched a pond beside S. Jim Minor Road, just south of Turner Road, and found Hajar Hassib, 23, dead in her car submerged in the pond, deputies said Tuesday.
Another Alamance County driver died south of Mebane Sunday night as a result of Chantal flooding. Around 11:36 p.m., Alamance County deputies responded to a call about a missing person at the intersection of Jones Drive and Calloway Drive in southeastern Alamance County.
The caller said that he and a friend were driving separately in the area near Mebane and lost sight of each other. Deputies responded and found the victim’s vehicle covered in rushing floodwaters about 50 to 100 yards off the road — the victim was later found dead inside the car.
Well into the night Sunday and Monday morning, crews were busy rescuing people from flooded cars, apartments and homes.
In Chapel Hill alone on Sunday and early Monday morning, there were more than 50 water rescues with about 60 people displaced from condos and apartments. In Southern Pines, there were 54 calls for service, many involving stranded motorists, some workers in flooded businesses, and submerged homes’ residents, officials said.
Orange County officials said at least 60 people were saved during water rescues in the county areas. The Orange Rural Fire Department helped about 65 people in just two hours — taking some to shelter and rescuing several people, officials said.
Durham crews assisted with many Chapel Hill rescues and later rescued more than 80 people from Eno River flooding in the Old Farm area of Durham, Durham officials said. The Northern Wake Fire Department traveled to Durham Sunday night and rescued four in the Felicia Street neighborhood.
At least 11 people were saved in water rescues in Alamance County Sunday night and early Monday, according to Faucette Township Volunteer Fire Department. Several people were also rescued during historic flooding along the Haw River.
Crews were working Tuesday to restore power, utilities and road access, officials said. Some roads will not be open or repaired for months, according to the NCDOT website.
“This historic weather event caused flooding like we haven’t seen in several decades in the central part of the state,” Transportation Secretary Joey Hopkins said in a statement, noting that crews were working to assess and reopen roads as soon as floodwaters recede and it is safe to do so.
Tropical Storm Chantal was downgraded to a tropical depression Sunday after making landfall in South Carolina. While the winds dropped, a 15- to 30-mile-wide swath of heavy rain followed the storm’s core across North Carolina and areas within that swath saw impressive rain amounts, the weather service’s Eastern Region headquarters said in a social media post.
The Associated Press and WGHP contributed to this report
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