WILMINGTON – Motorists in southeastern North Carolina, particularly Brunswick County, should be careful and avoid traveling on the roads flooded roads by today’s rain storms, state officials said Friday.
“Travel during and after an extended period of heavy rainfall can be treacherous,” said Robert Vause, the N.C. Department of Transportation’s maintenance engineer in the Wilmington area. “A flooded road might appear safe on the surface, but you can’t tell what’s going on below, until it’s too late.
“Never drive on roads covered with water and never try to drive around a barricade.”
Several inches of rain fell today in the Wilmington area, but low-lying Brunswick County was particularly hard hit and experienced the most serious flooding on roads. Officials closed several roads in the county.
“The heavy rains have created many challenges,” Vause said. “The intensity and duration of rainfall has saturated the ground and once it is saturated, that water can no longer be absorbed and can create runoff issues. This is why we have drainage ditches that run alongside most of our roads to contain the flow and direct it to the appropriate outlet.”
But drainage ditches have their limits. When there is no place for the water to go and no way to contain it, streets and highways flood.
Below is a list of Brunswick County roads that experienced flooding due to the heavy rainfall:
- 200 Danford Road Southeast, Bolivia
- Green Hill Road Northeast/Cherry Tree Road Northeast
- Royal Oak Road Northwest, Shallotte
- 100 Midway Road Southeast, Bolivia
- River Road Southeast/Daws Creek Road Southeast (high-water sign installed)
- Danford Road/Business 17 East
- 4700 Ocean Highway West, Shallotte
- Skeeter Hawk Drive Northeast/Town Creek Road Northeast (closed)
- 1600 Village Point Road, Shallotte (closed)
- River Road Southeast/ Fifty Lakes Drive (closed)
- Midway Road Southeast/Gilbert Road (closed)
- Midway Road Southeast/Albright Rd Southeast (closed)
- Green Hill Road Southeast/Albright Road Southeast
- Shell landing Road Southwest /Asheboro Street Southwest (closed)
- Clemmons Road /Old Lennon Road Southeast
- 1200 Lords Branch Road Southeast, Winnabow (washed out)
- 1000 Berrhill Road, Boiling Springs Lake (washed out)
- Eden Road/Fifty Lakes Road (washed out)
For real-time travel information, visit DriveNC.gov or follow NCDOT on Twitter.