Heavy rain brings dangerous flooding to Triangle; motorists and residents rescued

Editor’s note: This story was posted early Tuesday; updates on the flooding are here.

Floodwaters are rising in low-lying areas in the Triangle as heavy rain continues to fall on a dangerous Tuesday morning, and several motorists and homebound residents have needed rescue. Some power outages are reported, and Crabtree Valley Mall has closed for the day.

The National Weather Service said at 8:30 a.m. that its station at Raleigh-Durham International Airport had recorded 6.04 inches of rain in the previous 24 hours. Forecasters say 1 to 2 more inches of rain are possible during the morning in Wake and Durham counties.

A flood warning is in effect through 11:15 a.m. for Wake, Durham, Orange and Johnston counties.

About 12,000 Duke Energy customers in Wake County lost power about 5 a.m., but that number was down to 141 by 9 a.m. Most of the outages were in eastern Wake. In Durham County, Duke reported that 98 customers were without power, down from 1,421 earlier.

Crabtree Valley Mall announced that it would close for the day due to rising water. It said some department stores and restaurants with outside entrances might choose to be open, however.

Raleigh police issued a list of known high-water trouble spots to avoid at 7:30 a.m.: Inbound Glenwood Avenue at Creedmoor Road; Creedmoor Road at Crabtree Valley Mall Avenue; Crabtree Valley Mall Avenue; 4000 block of Blue Ridge Road; Lumley Road at Rink Road; Wake Forest Road at Hodges Street; Atlantic Avenue at Hodges; 2500 block of Capital Boulevard; 2800 block of New Hope Church Road; Sunnybrook Road at Wood Meadow; Milburnie Road at Shanda Drive; Harps Mill Road at Litchford Road; and Tryon Road between Anvil and Durham Drive.

Flooding shut down part of Creedmoor Avenue near the mall, which announced about 8:30 a.m. that it was closing for the day. State troopers closed westbound U.S. 264 near N.C. 39 in eastern Wake County because of flooding. Wake County firefighters reported that a section of Riley Hill Road in the eastern part of the county was closed because water more than a foot deep was running across a bridge over a creek. Old Stage Road also was shut down near Fanny Brown Road.

In Zebulon, police closed N.C. 97, West Gannon Avenue, after the Little River came up over it near Little River Park.

Motorists, residents rescued

Meanwhile, the water’s hazards to people are manifest. The Raleigh Fire Department was conducting a water rescue just before 7 a.m. at the end of Dacian Road in East Raleigh, two miles east of downtown, where a woman and three children apparently were trapped by rising water in their home. The woman reported that one of the children had a high fever and needed to go to WakeMed.

Firefighters also were sent to rescue someone at Crabtree Boulevard and Blue Ridge Road.

ABC11 has reported that several people have been rescued from cars after driving into floodwater, including on Lumley Road at Rink Road in Raleigh and in southern Wake County near the intersection of Johnson Pond Road and Bells Lake Road, just north of Fuquay-Varina.

Authorities recommend that motorists do not try to drive through floodwater on roadways, no matter how shallow it seems.

More road closures

As of 7:15 a.m., sections of Wake Forest and Six Forks roads in Raleigh have been closed because of flooding. Tryon Road near Wilmington Street was also closed. In Durham, Moores Mill Road is closed between Bowen Road and Rassie Crabtree Road, as well as Old Oxford Road between Cassam Road and Lake Michie Dam Road.

Parts of the Crabtree Creek basin in Raleigh show moderate to major flooding. In the Anderson Drive area, the water level was near 20.4 feet about sunrise and still rising, the weather service said; that level would send water into some homes on Claremont Drive opposite the creek. At 21 feet, the water would reach under the clearance of the Anderson Drive Bridge.

In the Crabtree Valley Mall area, the level was at 21.8 feet and rising. At 22 feet, water would cover Creedmoor Road. Parking lots at Crabtree Valley Mall are already flooded.

In the Old Wake Forest Road area, the water level was at 19.2 feet and rising. Sections of McNeil Street at Old Wake Forest are becoming flooded, with nearby businesses threatened. At 20 feet, the weather service said, water will flood Wake Forest Bridge Roadway.

In Johnston County, Creek Bridge Road was flooded out, the state Department of Transportation said. Old Johnston Road was closed near Kenly. Main Street near Wilson’s Mills was flooded out, too.

Rain will continue until midday, the weather service predicts, followed by scattered showers and possibly some thunderstorms Tuesday afternoon.

This story was originally published April 25, 2017 at 6:45 AM with the headline "Heavy rain brings dangerous flooding to Triangle; motorists and residents rescued."