Hurricane Floyd on its path toward the North
Carolina coast.
After the winds of the storm had passed, residents experienced the true threat of Hurricane Floyd: devastating and rapid flood waters. The soil and rivers were already inundated from Hurricane Dennis and could not handle the drenching rains of Floyd, which reached a total of 19.06 inches in Wilmington. Much of Eastern North Carolina was unprepared for the sudden flooding, and residents were forced to leave their homes with little time to think, plan, or decide what to save. The water rose and kept rising during the following days, setting new records for flood levels in at least nine U.S. Geological Survey locations, filling homes and business, destroying hundred of farms, and disrupting the lives of thousands of North Carolinians.
