7 flash flood, as filed by the National Weather Service.
Every event with a place to put it; 7 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
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.
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 Raleigh, NC wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 8, 12:55 AM EST, 7 hours 35 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RALEIGH NC 155 AM EDT FRI AUG 8 2003 OVERALL... PERSISTENT LONG WAVE TROUGH OVER EASTERN CONUS WITH WEAK IMPULSES ROTATING AROUND BASE OF TROUGH WILL KEEP A CONTINUED CHANCE OF CONVECTION ACROSS THE AREA. ADDITIONALLY SURFACE BOUNDARY ACROSS THE REGION AND PLENTY OF LOW LEVEL MOISTURE WILL ENHANCE CONVECTION. MODEL/WATER VAPOR TRENDS SHOW LESS OF A DRY SLOT TODAY. TODAY/TONIGHT... CURRENTLY WEAK IMPULSE LIFTING NORTHEAST OUT OF GEORGIA WILL KEEP SCATTERED SHOWERS...ISOLATED THUNDER MAINLY OVER WESTERN SECTIONS THROUGH THE MORNING HOURS. WILL GO WITH LIKELY POPS FOR WESTERN SECTIONS MID/LATE MORNING. THEN LIKELY ENTIRE CWA DURING THE AFTERNOON INTO EVENING. DROP POPS BACK INTO THE CHANCE CATEGORY TOWARD/AFTER MIDNIGHT. SATURDAY...ANOTHER IMPULSE ROUNDS BASE OF TROUGH AND MOVES ACROSS THE AREA IN THE PM. BOTH MOS GUIDANCE FOR THE MOST PART INDICATE LIKELY POPS. AT THE MOMENT WILL GO HIGH CHANCE. SUNDAY THROUGH THURSDAY... LITTLE CHANGES TO CURRENT FORECAST DURING THIS PERIOD AS CHANCE FOR SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS CONTINUES THROUGH EARLY NEXT WEEK. THEN FROM MID TO LATE WEEK...ATL RIDGE BUILDS WESTWARD...THUS LESS OF A THREAT FOR CONVECTION. TEMPERATURES CONTINUE SLIGHTLY BELOW NORMALS MUCH OF THE PERIOD. BY MID WEEK WITH LESS CHANCE FOR CONVECTION...TEMPERATURES CREEP BACK TO NEAR 90. .RAH...NONE. RA/GIH
NCZ007>011-021>028-038>043-073>078-083>086-088-089-081120- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RALEIGH NC 520 AM EDT FRI AUG 8 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR CENTRAL NORTH CAROLINA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE ACROSS CENTRAL NORTH CAROLINA TODAY...BECOMING MORE WIDESPREAD LATE IN THE DAY INTO THIS EVENING. THE MAIN THREAT WILL BE SOME THUNDERSTORMS MAY CONTAIN LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL. A .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE OVER CENTRAL NORTH CAROLINA THROUGH THE WEEKEND INTO NEXT WEEK. AGAIN THE THREAT WILL BE THAT SOME STORMS MAY PRODUCE LOCALLY HEAVY RAINS. THE CHANCE FOR SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL DIMINISH MID TO LATE WEEK. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... WHILE SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED AT THIS TIME...SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT THREATENING WEATHER OF ANY KIND TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE. RA
The Raleigh/Durham radar (KRAX), 98 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 13:32 UTC.
7 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Roads between Carthage and Aberdeen were flooded, and Little River flooded across U.S. 1 near Vass.A day care building was evacuated when water entered the building.
14 roads were closed, and cars were submerged downtown. One water rescue was made, and water entered several buisnesses.
Several roads in Cary were closed by flooding, and water entered homes in Raleigh.
Highway 39 was closed due to flooding.
Hillsborough Street flooded, and a vehicle was stranded. A pond in Garner overflowed onto Timber Drive.
Little Mountain Creek flooded.
Streets in Franklinton were closed by flooding, including Highway 56.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in North Carolina in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyWarnings in North Carolina, August 2003
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: 5376957, 5376961, 5376958, 5376960, 5376962, 5376959, 5376963.