North Carolina, 2018

Heavy Rain in North Carolina, May 28, 2018

May 28, 2018 · NWS GSP · 1 event in 1 county or zone

Very wet soil conditions resulting from periods of heavy rainfall that began during the middle part of May and continued through the end of the month, producing more than a foot of rain in many locations caused a tree to fall on a vehicle on Highway 176, which resulted in two fatalities.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it. 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
2
Injuries
0
Property damage
None recorded
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 happened

The episode as NWS GSP wrote it up.

Very wet soil conditions resulting from periods of heavy rainfall that began during the middle part of May and continued through the end of the month, producing more than a foot of rain in many locations caused a tree to fall on a vehicle on Highway 176, which resulted in two fatalities.

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 May 28, 1:04 PM EST, 26 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 28, 1:04 PM EST, 26 minutes before
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Hazardous weather outlook, May 28, 3:19 AM EST, 10 hours 11 minutes before
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The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 heavy rain. Local standard time, as filed.

Heavy Rain, Polk

When
May 28, 1:30 PM EST
Where
Polk County, 1.31 mi W of Valhalla
Deaths
0 direct, 2 indirect
Reported by
Emergency Manager
Coordinates
35.223, -82.293

EM reported two broadcast journalists were killed when a tree fell on their vehicle as they were driving on Highway 176. The tree fell due to saturated ground from the more than one foot of rain that fell over western Polk County during the latter half of May.

The people who died

As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.

EventDateAgeSexWhereKind
Heavy Rain, Polk2018-05-2836MaleVehicle/Towed TrailerIndirect
Heavy Rain, Polk2018-05-2835MaleVehicle/Towed TrailerIndirect

What these are

Heavy Rain
Rainfall totals unusual for the place and season that did not produce a flood.

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

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in North Carolina in 2018Every state in 2018This day in weather historyWarnings in North Carolina, May 2018

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 2026-10-01. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 760172.