Flooding from Chantal's remnants forces dozens to flee homes in North Carolina

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Heavy rain and flooding from the remnants of Tropical Storm Chantal forced dozens of people to flee their homes in central North Carolina, officials said Monday.

The Chapel Hill Fire Department and neighboring agencies completed more than 50 water rescues, many of them in areas where floodwaters entered or threatened to enter apartments, officials said. More than 60 people were displaced Sunday and Monday.

There were also water rescues at shopping centers, where water flooded businesses and parking lots, officials said. There were no reports of injuries as of Monday morning. Officials warned residents to take care as they ventured out Monday morning since crews were still assessing damage.

Floodwaters inundated Chapel Hill's Eastgate Crossings shopping center, where the red-framed glass doors of a Talbots store were blown in and debris-specked white mannequins littered the floor. Next door at the Great Outdoor Provision Co., manager Chad Pickens said kayaks ended up 30 feet from where they had been on display and shelves in the shoe room were toppled like dominoes.

Pickens said he was feeling pretty good as he watched the worst of the storm pass by on the news Sunday night, but then he got a call from the property manager.

''I knew when I saw her name on my caller ID that we had indeed flooded,'' he said.

What happened there pales in comparison to the floods in Texas, he said.

''The bottom line is these are just things, and while it hurts to lose things, it's a lot different to losing people,'' Pickens said.

A large brown dumpster had smashed into the outdoor dining area of a Shake Shack in the shopping center. The windows were blown out and chairs and cups were strewn everywhere.

Hua Jiang said he put in an order at the Shake Shack around 8:45 p.m. Sunday and about 10 minutes later, water started flowing through the doors. People started panicking and after about five minutes employees said they should make a run for it, he said. Jiang's Toyota RAV4 was already flooded in the parking lot, so he went to a Chipotle that was on higher ground.

''It's unfortunate, but that's life,'' Jiang said, wiping sweat from his brow on Monday morning.

In Chatham County, authorities were searching Monday for two canoers who went missing during the storm, according to a county sheriff's office news release. They were last seen launching their canoe on Jordan Lake late Sunday afternoon and their canoe was recovered Sunday night, authorities said.

Chatham County Sheriff Mike Roberson warned residents in a social media post that water may have subsided in some areas, but it was still dangerous to travel.

By Monday morning more than 100 roads were impacted by the storm, including 19 major roads, the North Carolina Department of Transportation said. All lanes of Interstate 85/Interstate 40 were closed both directions near Durham and were expected to reopen in 24 to 48 hours, officials said.

The Eno River crested early Monday at Durham at 25.63 feet (7.81 meters), surpassing the previous record of 23.6 feet (7.19 meters), according to the National Water Prediction Service's website.

The Haw River crested early Monday at 32.5 feet (9.91 meters), the second highest river stage ever recorded at the Town of Haw River. That level was only eclipsed by Hurricane Fran in 1996 when the stage reached 32.83 feet (10.01 meters), according to a post from the National Weather Service's Raleigh office.

More than 30,000 customers were without power on Monday morning, according to poweroutage.us.

Chantal was expected to continue northeast through mid-Atlantic states Monday as a tropical depression before brushing the southern New England coast Monday night into Tuesday morning, according to the Weather Prediction Center.

Rainfall amounts of up to 10 inches (25 centimeters) have already been reported in portions of the interior mid-Atlantic.

Tropical Storm Chantal was downgraded to a depression Sunday after making landfall near Litchfield Beach, South Carolina, early Sunday, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said.

By late morning Monday, the storm was about 30 miles (50 kilometers) north-northeast of Newport News, Virginia, with maximum sustained winds of 40 mph (45 kph). It was moving northeast at about 17 mph (28 kph).

Flood watches were in effect for parts of eastern Virginia, southern and eastern Maryland, Delaware, southern New Jersey and southeastern Pennsylvania.

Forecasters warned of dangerous surf and rip currents at beaches from northeastern Florida to the mid-Atlantic states for the next couple of days.