Flash flood watch issued
By Steve Herring
Published in News on September 12, 2018 12:43 PM
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Full SizeThe National Weather Service in Raleigh has issued a flash flood watch for a portion of the Coastal Plain and Sandhills, including Wayne, Sampson and Cumberland counties, for Thursday morning through Saturday evening.
Wayne County remains under a hurricane watch as Hurricane Florence is expected to make landfall somewhere near the North Carolina/South Carolina border early Saturday morning.
A prolonged period of heavy rainfall is expected across the Coastal Plain and Sandhills making flash flooding of creeks, rivers, streams, nearby roadways and washouts of area bridges likely.
A flash flood watch means that conditions may develop that lead to flash flooding, a very dangerous situation, according to the National Weather Service.
Rick Fletcher, Goldsboro's public works director, said that the flooding will likely take one of two forms: either flash flooding -- rapid flooding caused by heavy rainfall in low-lying areas -- or "river creep" caused by the overflowing of the Neuse River.
"Flash flooding is localized," Fletcher said. "It's unpredictable. It's really based on topography, anywhere you have lower elevation, and on the amount of rain that we get."