Historic rains from unnamed storm swamp Wilmington, NC, Brunswick County

The storm, hovering off the coast, wasn’t supposed to be this bad. It wasn’t even strong enough for the National Hurricane Center to give it a name, and Sunday night some local officials decided it was safe enough to send students to school.

But only a few hours into Monday, it quickly became apparent that this wasn’t just a typical unnamed summer weather system. Floodwaters washed away roads, surged into homes, stranded driver for hours, and prompted water rescues in several communities in New Hanover and Brunswick counties.

Jamie Johnson, who lives in Carolina Beach and owns Coharie Coastal Boutique on North Lake Boulevard, said she’s never seen flooding of the kind that swamped the town Monday. 

“None of us have,” Johnson said. “We were in the streets looking at each other like, ‘What the heck is going on?'” 

More:Must-see photos and video of tropical weather in the Wilmington area

Rainfall of more than 18 inches in a single day was reported in parts of Carolina Beach, a once-in-1,000-year rainfall event, according to the National Weather Service’s Wilmington office. The result was flooded homes and businesses and dozens of emergency calls for help from stranded residents and motorists.

Across the Cape Fear River, raging floodwaters washed away roads and bridges around Southport, isolating the Brunswick County coastal town. A few miles north, flooding left U.S. 17 − the county’s main east-west artery − and other roads in central parts of the county impassable, stranding hundreds of motorists for hours.

Pleasure Island in New Hanover County, home to Carolina Beach and Kure Beach, saw some of the region’s worst flooding.

Pictures and videos of floodwaters showing whole neighborhoods inundated and lakes and drainage canals swallowing streets and homes were flashed around the country, prompting questions of how this could happen from a storm that was barely on anyone’s radar.

More:Historic rainfall collapses roads, floods homes in the Wilmington area

‘That might have to change’

“During my 50-plus years here I’ve seen a lot of hurricanes but I’ve never seen rain and flooding like this,” said Carolina Beach Mayor Lynn Barbee Tuesday morning. “So yes, this is the worst I’ve seen, and I’m hearing that from a lot of Carolina Beach veterans.” 

The mayor added that many people appeared to be caught off guard by the storm’s ferocity − a situation that might prompt a rethink of how we prepare for storm’s as seemingly benign as an unnamed low-pressure system off the coast.

“I think because it was unnamed, it set us all at ease,” Barbee said, noting town officials were prepared to deal with several inches of rain − just not 18. “That might have to change.”

Experts said Monday’s extreme rainfall is another stark reminder that it doesn’t take a named storm to trigger extremely dangerous conditions, something that’s becoming more common as the planet warms due to climate change.

“We saw tropical storm-force winds, but there was no defined center of circulation,” said AccuWeather Lead Hurricane Expert Alex DaSilva in a release. “This is yet another reminder that slow-moving tropical systems that are not officially named can still create dangerous and even deadly impacts.”

Picking up the pieces

For many Carolina Beach restaurants and businesses, the flooding will have a lasting impact. 

Two Veggie Wagon employees went to the Carolina Beach location on South Lake Park Boulevard early Monday morning to assess how things were going. 

At first, things seemed to be fine, said owner Max Sussman, who was out of town but began seeing videos of the slow-moving disaster playing out and water creeping into his building. Soon after, a flash-flooding event inundated the market and carried away the employees’ cars. 

That led the employees to shelter on the check-out counter as they waited to be rescued. Sussman said they were champions, and eventually made it to the roof of the building to wait for help from emergency crews busy rescuing other people from around the water-logged beach town. 

While now facing a long rebuilding process, Sussman like several other business owners said he’s not throwing in the towel.

“There will be a lot of hard work. But we’ve been here before,” he said. “Hurricane Florence gave us Veggie Wagon 2.0. Now, April (Sussman) and I are already thinking about ideas for Veggie Wagon 3.0.” 

Johnson, owner of Coharie, echoed the sentiment.

“I’ll lose money,” she said, adding that she didn’t have flood insurance on her boutique shop, “but at least nobody got hurt. That’s the important thing.”

Reporters John Staton and Allison Ballard contributed to this story.

Reporter Gareth McGrath can be reached at GMcGrath@Gannett.com or @GarethMcGrathSN on X/Twitter. This story was produced with financial support from the Green South Foundation and the Prentice Foundation. The USA TODAY Network maintains full editorial control of the work. 

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