As Tropical Storm Debby arrives, NCDOT reports numerous flooded and blocked roads

High water and downed trees are blocking dozens of roads in southeastern and central North Carolina on Thursday, as Tropical Storm Debby passes through North Carolina.

Most of those roads are secondary, but they also include the southbound lanes of U.S. 17 south of Shallotte in Brunswick County, the main road between Wilmington and Myrtle Beach. The northbound lanes of U.S. 421 were closed in Buies Creek because of a downed tree and power lines, but have since reopened.

Interstate highways remained open, except for westbound Interstate 40 near the Fayetteville Road exit in Durham and southbound Interstate 95 near Lumberton, which were both blocked by crashes at about 1 p.m. Both highways were expected to reopen by 4 p.m.

In the Triangle, several streets and roads were partially or completely blocked. The City of Raleigh urged people to stay off greenway trails, many of which follow creeks and streams that are over their banks.

In Chatham County, several roads were closed due to high water or downed trees, according to the N.C. Department of Transportation. Near Wake Forest, Mangum Dairy and Purnell roads were closed due to flooding but have since reopened.

Downed trees are cleared fairly quickly. But as water recedes, NCDOT can then find that pavement, shoulders or culverts have washed out, requiring repairs that can take days or weeks.

Amtrak said the Carolinian would end its southbound run in Richmond, Virginia, on Thursday because of trees blocking the tracks, then announced the train would continue south as scheduled to the Triangle, Greensboro and Charlotte. Amtrak had previously canceled Florida and Georgia trains that pass through North Carolina ahead of Debby’s landfall as a hurricane earlier in the week.

The ferry between Southport and Fort Fisher was closed for a couple of hours Thursday morning but has resumed service. Later in the morning, NCDOT suspended the Pamlico Sound ferries to Ocracoke from Cedar Island and Swan Quarter for the day, as well as the Cherry Branch-Minnesott Beach ferry across the Neuse River. The Ocracoke Express passenger ferry is scheduled to stop running at 4 p.m.

The Elwell Ferry across the Cape Fear River in Bladen County is also closed due to high water.

NCDOT said Wednesday that it was prepared for heavy rain and wind that might make roads impassable. That includes more than 12,000 portable signs the department can deploy to indicate that a road is closed or covered with water.

Forecasters say the slow-moving storm could dump up to 15 inches of rain on southeastern North Carolina and up to 10 inches in the central part of the state, including the Triangle.

As of 1 p.m. Thursday, nearly 4 inches of rain had fallen at Raleigh-Durham International Airport since the night before, according to the National Weather Service, though some areas of the Triangle had received 5 inches or more. Wilmington International Airport had received about 8 inches since early Wednesday morning.

That rain is falling on ground saturated by a month of unusually heavy rain, increasing the chance that creeks, swamps and rivers will spill onto roadways.

During his first storm briefing Wednesday morning, Gov. Roy Cooper emphasized the dangers of walking or driving through flood waters. Just six inches of fast-moving water can knock a person down, Cooper said, and 12 inches can carry away most cars.

“Now is not the time to see if your car floats, because it doesn’t,” he said. “Our department of transportation and our first responders will tell you that we’ve lost too many lives after these storms because of people trying to drive through or walk through water.”

Ahead of the storm, NCDOT crews worked to clear storm drains and level shoulders to help water drain from the pavement, said Transportation Secretary Joey Hopkins. The department has more than 2,200 employees assigned to respond to the storm, with trucks, chainsaws and backhoes fueled up and ready to go, Hopkins said.

“We’re ready to shift resources if necessary to more troubled areas,” he said. “But we have people in every county.”

For the latest on road conditions in North Carolina, go to drivenc.gov/.