19 water rescues, 2 structural collapses reported in High Point after storms

HIGH POINT, N.C. (WGHP) — The High Point Fire Department has released a report about the calls for service they received during the storms on Wednesday night.

The calls began to come in at around 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday and lasted through around 2:00 a.m. on Thursday.

Firefighters responded to a variety of weather-related incidents. Those incidents included calls about building fires, submerged vehicles and structural collapses due to rising water and fallen trees.

In total, there were:

• 23 calls for service
  • Downed trees, water in basements/crawl spaces, water leaks into structures
• 19 water-related rescues
  • Submerged vehicles and people trying to cross flooded areas on foot
• 2 structural collapses
  • Rising water destroying a home’s wall and a tree falling on a house
• 3 structure fires
• 4 traffic crashes

Some of the areas impacted were:

• Blair Park Golf Course/Brentwood Street
• Rivermead Community off Eastchester Drive
• Deepriver Rd at Hickswood Road

Firefighters say that around 24 people were rescued from water-related emergencies in total.

“When I opened my door, I noticed it looked like Myrtle Beach out here,” said Joshua Johnson, who lives on Lexington Avenue.

Flood waters were knee deep and rising. 

“I’ve never seen water that high since I’ve been staying here,” Johnson said.

Johnson said he became concerned he was going to have to swim to evacuate on Wednesday night.

“Once I started seeing it get to my third step, I said, ‘Yeah, I am starting to panic a little bit,’” Johnson said.

He said it was difficult for drivers to see just how deep the water was, and he could tell that was going to be a problem. 

“I noticed that cars were trying to come through here to get through it, and they were getting stuck … It was like two cars submerged, and the rescue squad had to come and take them out the window,” Johnson said.

Just a few miles away on Rivermeade Drive, David Caudel said they were hit hard, too.

“It was constant rain … thunder and lightning. Flooded the front and the back to the point where cars were stuck,” Caudel said.

Now his backyard looks like a river.

While some of the water has receded, only a few inches of his neighbor’s fence is visible.

By Thursday afternoon, two cars were still abandoned in the middle of the road with the windows down. Those drivers had to be rescued, and Caudel had to stop another driver from making the same mistake. 

“The water was up to the bottom of her door jam, and I was waving her off and telling her not to go any further because it would be coming into her car. She said, ‘It doesn’t look like it’s that deep,’ and I said, ‘It is,’” Caudel said.