Flash Flooding Damages Three Rescue Vehicles

11-Oct -- rain — Rainfall forecast from Saturday. Even more rain than was anticipated from the coastal storm has fallen in Columbus County since Saturday.

Updated and corrected information at 9:45 p.m.

Two rescue vehicles were wrecked and third was damaged as heavy rains brought flash flooding to much of Columbus today (Sunday).

Radio traffic indicated that a Tabor City Rescue Quick Response Vehicle (QRV) overturned on N.C. 130 en route to a call. When a Lake Waccamaw Rescue QRV responded, that vehicle also wrecked. A Whiteville Rescue heavy rescue truck was also flooded and trapped at the Go Gas on Madison Street.

Multiple Whiteville intersections between Jefferson Street and Soules Swamp were flooded at 6:30 p.m.

Whiteville Emergency Services Director Hal Lowder strongly urged people to stay off the roads.

“Do not drive through flood water,” he said. “We say it during every single storm. It doesn’t take much for a regular automobile to start floating. Then your life is in danger, and emergency personnel are endangered as well. It’s not worth it.”

Some streets were temporarily blocked due to rising water, Lowder said.

“Do not go around barricades,” he said. “They are there for a reason. It’s especially dangerous at night. You have no idea if a street has washed out, or what is under the water.”

Major flooding inundated the Donut Shop and Go Gas on South Madison, blocking the street for more than an hour.

Barricades were erected on Madison Street downtown, but no serious flooding was reported. While multiple intersections on Franklin Street saw high water, most of the flooding flowed off by 7 p.m.

Several streets in Chadbourn were covered with more than 18 inches of water, and parts of U.S. 701 South were down to one lane.

More than nine inches of rain fell on the county fairgrounds Saturday and Sunday, according to fair staff. The fair was closed Saturday due to the weather, and was briefly opened Sunday before organizers decided to shut it down for safety reasons. t one point, fair staff were preparing to move some of the animals in the livestock exhibit due to flooding.

Sheriff Bill Rogers shared on the Sheriff’s Office website and social media that the county’s high water vehicles had been deployed. He also asked residents to stay off area roads.

All scheduled district and superior court will be on a two hour delay tomorrow, Clerk of Superior Court Jess Hill said.

This is a developing story.