Latest round of flash flooding from Debby begins in North Carolina
Storm chaser Aaron Rigsby reported live from Elizabethtown, North Carolina, late in the evening of Aug. 7 as the northern side of Tropical Storm Debby caused flash floods.
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00:00We want to get the latest from Storm Chaser and AccuWeather correspondent Aaron Rigsby,
00:04live in and who is live in Elizabethtown, North Carolina. Aaron, you've got some serious flooding
00:11there. You positioned yourself into this pretty broad feeder band or onshore slinging band of
00:18very heavy rain on the north side of the storm. Yeah, good evening, Jeff. That's absolutely
00:23correct. And as you can see behind me, this has been a result of all of that rain that's been
00:27falling down. This is one of many streets that's been flooded out anywhere from here
00:31back over to Kelly and several more areas in Inland, North Carolina. And this is 100 miles
00:36away from Debbie's center to tell you how widespread her impacts have been. Now, you saw
00:41the car behind me kind of drive through and make it through. OK, but this is why we express why it's
00:44so dangerous to turn around and don't drown, because it's hard to gauge, especially at night,
00:48how deep this water is right here behind me. Absolutely. And you've been in a few different
00:53communities, smaller town of Kelly. Now you're in Elizabethtown. Looks like that is in
00:57Bladen County. What have you seen? Have you seen any water rescues or obviously you've
01:03probably seen a few roads that are closed. Have you seen emergencies cruise out tonight?
01:09Yeah, actually, the main highways have been relatively OK. There was a section of Highway
01:1474 a little bit closer to Kelly that had been shut down in the westbound lanes due to high
01:19water. There was at least a foot of water there. And earlier they had to tow a vehicle out of
01:23there here in Elizabethtown. I haven't gotten any word of any water rescues yet, but I have come
01:27across multiple instances of those boats and rescue crews on standby ready to respond quickly
01:34if some of those emergency calls come in, especially here at night where it's just so
01:37hard to see where that flash flooding is occurring. You come around one of some of
01:41these flying birds and it could just be there waiting on you. And then suddenly you're in a
01:45high water and you're in a high water situation. All right. And I know that every storm is different.
01:50In this case, the action is displaced to the north of the center of the storm as we're not
01:55seeing the same type of flooding right now near the center of the storm, which is slowly creeping
02:00over South Carolina right now. But Aaron, what is your plan for the future of this storm? I know
02:06that there will be a lot more flooding there, at least in your area through the night.
02:09Yeah, absolutely. I'm going to shift my attention to this part of North Carolina. There's a couple
02:15towns further to my south where some reports are coming in that there's some pretty significant
02:19flash flooding occurring and that a lot of the roads and the entryways have been barricaded off
02:23to prevent people from driving to the floodwater. So that's going to be my next game plan. It's
02:26about 20 minutes south of here and we're going to be reporting there throughout the evening
02:30and into tomorrow morning and afternoon and following it all along the way and those impacts
02:35as that high risk of flash flooding continues for the next several days. At what point does a
02:40storm chaser decide to go to bed? Do you have to at least some point get some rest? Are you going
02:45to find a hotel or how's that work? Yeah, I'm going to kind of meet somewhere in the middle
02:50because, you know, being on top of your game, especially in these situations, remaining alert,
02:54it's crucial to get that sleep. So we're going to find some time probably here in the next couple
02:58of hours to at least get a few hours of sleep and get recharged and ready to get back at it
03:02for tomorrow and get these really important reports out there and that ground truth to just
03:06how much flash flooding is occurring out here. All right, we appreciate all that you're doing.
03:10Storm chaser Aaron Rigsby. I know it's not easy out in the elements with technology and heavy
03:13rain and the wind and all that stuff. So thanks again, Aaron. We'll look forward to more reports
03:17from you through the days to come.