Flash Flood and Lightning Strike in North Carolina, July 2 to 3, 2001

Name: Flash Flood and Lightning Strike in North Carolina, July 2 to 3, 2001
Start: 2001-07-02T23:15
End: 2001-07-03T01:00
Location: North Carolina

July 2 to 3, 2001 · NWS GSP · 2 events in 1 county or zone

1 flash flood, 1 lightning, as filed by the National Weather Service.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 2 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

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The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $50,000
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 2

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jul 2, 8:30 PM EST, 2 hours 45 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 2, 8:30 PM EST, 2 hours 45 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
930 PM EDT MON JUL 2 2001

PRECIP COVERAGE HAS NOT BEEN TREMENDOUS THIS EVENING...BUT WITH
FRONT STALLED ACROSS WESTERN NC AND VAD WIND PROFILE STARTING TO
SHOW A GRADUAL SHIFT TO AN EASTERLY FLOW IN THE LOWEST 4K FT...AM
RELUCTANT TO TRIM POPS VERY MUCH. DEVELOPING WEAK UPSLOPE FLOW ALONG
WITH LOW LEVEL MOIST FLUX CONVERGENCE SHOULD PROVIDE PLENTY OF
SUPPORT TO KEEP TSRA FIRING FOR MUCH OF THE OVERNIGHT. WILL REDUCE
POPS TO CHC RANGE WITH LOWEST POPS NRN TIER TO HIGHEST SOUTH.

SFC DEWPOINTS SHOW LITTLE HINT OF DRYING IN THE EASTERLY FLOW ALONG
THE SLOWING FRONT. CURRENT FORECAST GENERALLY HAS TEMPS WELL IN
HAND. WILL REDUCE NRN MTN MINS TO AROUND 60 GIVEN LATEST TRENDS.

SEVERE THREAT REMAINS MINIMAL WITH HIGH WET BULB ZERO VALUES...MOIST
SOUNDINGS...AND WEAK WIND PROFILE. HEAVY RAIN WILL BE THE GREATEST
THREAT DURING THE OVERNIGHT WITH LATEST SRN PIEDMONT LAPS SOUNDINGS
SHOWING VIRTUALLY NO 0 TO 6 KM STORM MOTION. ALTHOUGH MOST STORMS
WILL RAIN OUT IN PLACE...WILL NOT ISSUE A SHORT TERM FLASH FLOOD
WATCH DUE TO SCATTERED COVERAGE.

FCSTID = 33
GSP   68  88  69  88 /  40  50  40  50
AND   68  88  69  88 /  40  50  40  50
CLT   67  86  68  88 /  40  40  40  50
HKY   66  83  67  86 /  30  30  30  50
AVL   64  82  64  83 /  40  40  40  50

.GSP...
GA...NONE.
NC...NONE.
SC...NONE.

HG

The radar

The Greer radar (KGSP), 134 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 04:14 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 flash flood, 1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.

Flash Flood, Caldwell

When: July 2, 11:15 PM EST to July 3, 1:00 AM EST
Where: Caldwell County, Lenoir
Property damage: $50,000
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 35.953, -81.546 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Flooding was observed in the city of Lenoir and a couple of roads flooded just outside of town. By 0045 EST, several roads had been washed out., but flooding had abated. A car was flooded out and floated along U.S. 321 north of Lenoir; the woman inside the car was rescued. Two other cars were also flooded. Mudslides occurred 5 to 7 miles north of Lenoir. A couple of cars ran into rocks on the road from the mudslides. A few streams overflowed their banks and flooded out the highway. A storm spotter relayed a scanner report of two mobile homes struck by lightning. Torrential rain fell in the northern half of Caldwell County, upwards of 4.3 inches in a two-hour period.

Lightning, Caldwell

When: July 2, 11:30 PM EST to 11:45 PM EST
Where: Caldwell County, Lenoir
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 35.953, -81.546 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Flash Flood: Flooding that begins within six hours of the rain that causes it, or of a dam or levee failure or ice jam release, often with deadly speed.
Lightning: A lightning strike that killed, injured or caused damage.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in North Carolina in 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history Warnings in North Carolina, July 2001

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5260856, 5260857.