AccuWeather's Ali Reid reported live from Carolina Beach on the morning of Sept. 17, talking to residents and visitors who found themselves stranded by flooding from a tropical rainstorm.
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00:00We want to bring in Allie Reed. Allie started her day in Emerald Isle, went to Wrightsville Beach,
00:06Topso Beach, Wrightsville Beach, and then ended up in Carolina Beach where we find her this morning.
00:16Sounds like a pretty incredible journey, right? We started in Emerald Isle, well really we started
00:21in the Outer Banks. I flew into Virginia, we started in Outer Banks, we drove hours to get
00:26here. We knew that this was going to be an area that was going to be impacted, but to this extent
00:32I don't know if anyone could have expected anything like this. Unfortunately this was a storm,
00:38again we've been talking about it, an unnamed storm, but one that simply cannot be forgotten
00:43given the damage and the destruction that it has left behind. Most of that destruction having to
00:48do with flash flooding and we are still dealing with that now. I do want to point your direction
00:52to this drain though. My photographer Andy, he's always good, he picks up on this stuff really well.
00:57He said, listen, this is a positive sign, right? Let's get up close and personal in that. That's a
01:04good thing that we're seeing some of those the storm waters now starting to recede even more,
01:09but the issue is is that as we are speaking to people throughout the morning there are still
01:14families that are unable to get to their home. I just spoke to a woman, her name is Vicky,
01:19unfortunately she was at work yesterday, wasn't able to be home before the storm came in
01:24and then realized, wow I have no way to get to my home. She's been in communication with her
01:29neighbors but they say their hands are tied, their basements are completely flooded out, she's got
01:35pets inside the home that she hasn't been able to get to and she was parked just over around the
01:40corner here within the last few minutes scratching her head wondering when am I going to be able to
01:45get home. This is what people are dealing with here today. Let's bring you some video up on your
01:51screen for you. This is what they were dealing with yesterday here in Carolina Beach. Simply
01:56incredible stuff here when we are talking about flooding. My photographer Andy getting up close
02:02and personal into a stalled out vehicle that had water so high that it came up above the
02:07seats in the car. I mean, wow, that's very telling of just how much water really just came in and
02:15inundated this area yesterday. Again, a lot of people waking up, assessing damage, talking to
02:22people in their community, wondering what's next. Again, we bring you back live. This is a busy
02:29street here. Good morning. How are you? I'm okay. You're okay? You're smiling? I am, I am. We're
02:36staying at the Hampton. Okay, so you were you visiting? We're visiting from Pennsylvania.
02:41Visiting from Pennsylvania? Me too. I'm visiting from Pennsylvania. I'm from the Philadelphia area.
02:45Oh my God. We're from an hour north, Allentown, Bethlehem, Easton area. Well, little does this
02:50woman know that I actually lived in Allentown, Pennsylvania. I used to work for a TV station
02:54in Allentown. WFMZ? Yes. Oh my God. That's great. It's so nice to meet you. What's your name? My name's
03:01Donna. Okay, so you're visiting Donna. I'm sure you did not expect this when you came for this trip.
03:06No, I didn't. Explain to me as you're walking around what it has been like the last 24 hours.
03:10Well, we're still not even sure we can get out of the Hampton. It's really deep there. Although we
03:16have some, we have seen some cars going through. Did you guys, you have power in the hotel?
03:22We didn't have elevators until this morning and we're on the sixth floor. Wow. So that was a
03:28little rough. A little bit of a workout that you weren't expecting, right? Yeah, exactly. But I've
03:33just been kind of walking around and just seeing what's where some restaurants are that we wanted
03:38to go to. And I've had to take different twists and turns, but I've been able to get around.
03:43To see this, obviously Allentown, Pennsylvania doesn't typically get a lot of flooding.
03:49Sometimes they do, right? As I'm very familiar with that area, seeing this though, this is shocking.
03:56And many people, as we've been talking to people saying, wow, I mean the basement's completely
04:00flooded out. How are you feeling for those people? I feel really bad for anybody, anywhere that has
04:05to go through something like this all the time. We'd love to move here, but this is one of the
04:09reasons that we keep hesitating because we don't have stuff like this normally in Pennsylvania.
04:15Right. And our room, our room, we're on the sixth floor, but we had to run down and get towels
04:21because the rain was coming through into the sliding glass doors into our room. Wow. Wow.
04:27Incredible stuff, huh? Yeah. And the people at the Hampton have been absolutely wonderful.
04:31Good to know. Hampton, we like them. It was so nice to meet you. Stay safe, please. See you sometime.
04:38I will. I love Allentown. Guys, how does this happen? Every time I go somewhere, I meet someone
04:45from Pennsylvania. I don't know. Maybe it's just the Philly girl and me. Yeah. You got a Philly girl.
04:52You have a Philly girl. And then you have me into the cold regions of Northeastern Pennsylvania.
04:58And then we have that viewer. Again, the interview you just went through in Allentown,
05:03it's the Pennsylvania Connection. It sure is beautiful. Allie Reed, live for us in Carolina
05:10Beach, just being her extroverted self, meeting all these people, trying to find the light in a
05:14very miserable time here across Carolina Beach. We appreciate you being live for us.