Storms move through area, cause flooding, bring down trees

Central North Carolina and the Triangle viewing area were hit hard in some locations by strong storms, wind and lightning Thursday evening. The end result was flooding in some low-lying areas, trees down and power outages.

A severe thunderstorm warning was issued for Orange, Durham, Chatham and Wake counties that ran from around 7 p.m. until after 8:30 p.m. The line of storms extended as far west as Albemarle in Stanly County up through Asheboro, into Chapel Hill and Durham before moving east and impacting Raleigh, areas of Johnston County and spots to the north and east.

Reports of flooding came in on Hwy. 86 in Hillsborough, parts of Durham and Raleigh. As much as four inches of rain fell in some parts over a six-hour period. There were also reports of trees down and high water standing over roads.

One area of Latta Road in Durham that was flooded was marked by road flares set out by law enforcement. The flood waters even washed out a portion of the road and created a crack in the road.

Meteorologist Mike Maze said severe thunderstorm warnings and flash flood warnings were the two major issues Thursday evening.

“More rain and the potential for flash flooding exists for tonight and early tomorrow,” meteorologist Mike Maze said. “Futurecast shows the showers and thunderstorms gradually dying down 2 a.m. Just a few spotty showers by 5 a.m. Showers will move over to the east where the focus of the rain will be (Friday).”

Aimee Wilmoth, who was in the WRAL Storm Tracker, reported seeing lots of rain and lightning when she was out Thursday night.

The storms began to subside after 10 p.m. Thursday, meaning the worst was likely over. However, rain chances were expected to continue into early Friday before the system moves to the east.

With the front moving through, it means less humid air moving into the weekend. However, there will be a chance for showers every day going into next week.

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Cooler-than-usual temperatures and scattered thunderstorms are in the forecast all next week as an upper level low pressure system stalls directly over North Carolina.

Highs will be in the low 80s all weekend, and early next week could see some highs in the upper 70s.