Name: Flash Flood in North Carolina, July 3, 2001
Start: 2001-07-03T00:00
End: 2001-07-03T03:00
Location: North Carolina

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 1 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

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 2
Property damage: $100,000
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 1

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, 3 hours 30 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 2, 8:30 PM EST, 3 hours 30 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

In the hours before

Local storm report, Jul 2, 11:24 PM EST, 36 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE SPARTANBURG SC
1224 AM EDT TUE JUL 03 2001

TIME(EDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

1220 AM    2 N LENOIR                NC   FLASH FLOOD
07/03/01   CALDWELL                       EM REPORTED FLASH
                                          FLOODING WITH CAR
                                          FLOATING US321 NORTH OF
                                          LENOIR.  ALSO SOME
                                          MUDSLIDES NORTHEAST PART
                                          OF COUNTY.

JONES

The radar

The Greer radar (KGSP), 64 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 04:59 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flash Flood, Rutherford

When: July 3, 12:00 AM EST to 3:00 AM EST
Where: Rutherford County, Forest City
Injuries: 2 direct, 0 indirect
Property damage: $100,000
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 35.402, -81.920 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Five streets or roads completely shut down by high water, with trees and power lines across roads. A transformer blew. Eagle Lake overflowed, washing out a section of Duke Street. A vehicle with two passengers went in the washout, nearly killing both occupants. The event started with several areas of standing water. Then, water was reported ankle-deep in a house. Several trees were downed from the water, and mudslides occurred in Spindale. By 0056 EST, water was 5 feet deep in places, flooding an apartment complex. Several businesses were damaged by the flooding.

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.

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

The same day elsewhere

More

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: 5260858.