Tropical Storm Fred Brings North Carolina Town the ‘Worst Flooding’ in Years

Western North Carolina had completely saturated after consecutive days of torrential rain brought by Tropical Storm Fred.

Fred's remnants left the town of Candler, North Carolina 'completely underwater', although the town is 500 miles northeast of where Fred made landfall in Cape San Blas, Florida. The storm struck the town just as much as Southeast with formed tornadoes, power outages, and flood.

"It was like a whole bunch of cars were going through, everyone was going through, but see now I got stuck," said Andrew Nesbitt, a driver whose car got stranded in floodwaters.

Residents have also told AccuWeather National Reporter Jillian Angeline that this flooding was the worst they had in years, where much of it stemmed from overflow of the Pigeon River, which crested at 15.75 feet on Wednesday morning.

This makes the river rank sixth in the highest gauge height in the history, nearly 6 feet higher than its minor flood stage level.

Ironically, Fred never reached hurricane status.

(Photo : Photo by Wade Austin Ellis on Unsplash)

Although Fred which made landfall on the Florida Panhandle never reached a hurricane status - just 9 mph shy of Category 1 hurricane strength - its impact and 35-mph winds were felt throughout the Southeast, leaving saturated and soggy grounds.

As of Wednesday, the disorganized system paraded through the Appalachians associated with heavy rain and localized severe flooding.

An aerial footage covered by AccuWeather's Reed Timmer shows how flood water engulfs the whole town of Balsam Grove, southern North Carolina by the borders of Georgia and South Carolina, Tuesday.

The Asheville Fire Department works day and night to perform swift-water rescues and keeping residents at their houses.

"The big thing now is to try and stay home if you can," Landon Davis, Acting Battalion Chief of the Asheville Fire Department, told Angeline. "Don't go through floodwaters; stay out of them. Don't go around barricades and try to stay home."

Also read: Tropical Depression Brewing Near Florida Puts the State in a Ticking Clock Situation

Life-threatening flash flood dangers hit the Asheville metropolitan area

WRAL reported over 9 inches of rain fell in Haywood County in less than 48 hours, posing serious flash flood danger in the Asheville metropolitan area especially those who lived along Pigeon River. A search is ongoing for 30 missing people in Haywood County as of Wednesday afternoon, AccuWeather's Jillian Angeline reported.

"Debris, power lines down, sink holes, broken roads," Cruso resident Josh Stepp told Angeline. Cruso sits southwest of Asheville along the Pigeon River. "You name it, I've seen it."

Meanwhile, deadly rain also struck the farther South in Florida and Georgia. The Storm Prediction Center (SPC) reports nearly 20 tornadoes along North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia from Monday night into Tuesday.

Trees and powerlines are down in South Carolina, commonly in Newberry County and Lexington County. Tens of thousands of residents faces power outages since Fred made landfall, stretching from northern Florida to the East Coast states.

AccuWeather Meteorologist Ryan Adamson said Fred will continue to spread northeastward and people in the area are asked to come prepared for possible flooding.

Also read: Tsunami Terror: At Least 70 People Died After Flash Floods Engulfed Town in Turkey