Bridges In Greenville To Be Closed Tuesday
The Tar River continues to rise on Monday now bringing the river levels over 20 feet. Flood stage for the Tar River at Greenville is 13 feet and major flooding occurs at 19 feet.
“At 24 feet, devastating flooding for all areas adjacent to the river and tributaries. Water will begin to flood the Pitt-Greenville Airport. Water will overflow into the city of Greenville. Nearly all major roads countywide will become flooded and impassable.”-NWS.
Reports are coming in on flooding in parks and neighborhoods near the Tar River. Dockside neighborhood, Lewis Park at West Meadowbrook, and Dog Park off of Stancill and Warren are some of the areas beginning to flood and there will be many more over the next couple of days. If you are in the evacuation zones leave now if you can. The water will continue to rise over the next 48 hours and will be slow to fall once the river crests at 26 feet on Wednesday. By Saturday the river level is forecast to only lower to around 23 feet which is still within a major flood level.
As I mentioned in an update earlier, the flood waters have caused the Greene St Bridge to close earlier this afternoon and the Memorial Street Bridge and 264 Bridge will close tomorrow afternoon. If you need to be on one side of the river at some point this week, it is advised to get there soon or you will be stuck on one side or the other.
If you see roads that are covered with water do not drive through them no matter the size of your vehicle. Find another route to get you to where you are going.
There are other rivers that are flooding that I haven’t mentioned in my forecasts. I have created a page that lists the river levels and forecast levels located here.
River gauges across ENC have shown a range of seventies of flooding from minor to major. The purple represents major flooding, red moderate, orange minor, yellow action, and green no flooding expected.
The Neuse River in Goldsboro will rise over the next day then begin to recede while in Kinston will see a continued rise through the rest of the week. Evacuation orders have been given in Kinston and action to escape the rising waters should be taken now.
The Cape Fear River continues to flood though the waters will begin to recede in Fayetteville soon. Fayetteville was hit hard by Matthew and while Matthew has moved on the damage still remains. The Governor has visited Greenville to tour the flood/damage from Matthew and will be touring in Fayetteville as well. Federal aid is being directed to the region to help with the recovery efforts already in place. There have also been 11 deaths so far in North Carolina related to Hurricane Matthew and over 1,500 people that need or needed rescue from the floods.
The continued risk associated with flooding will extend into this weekend and possibly early next week as well.
Be safe this week and I will update late tonight or in the morning if there is any new information to pass on.