Rain causes local flooding

Floodwaters in Dellene and Frank Gudger's yard begin to recede Tuesday afternoon after Hidden Creek, which runs along the edge of their backyard, overflowed due to heavy rains. Photo by Karissa Minn, Salisbury Post.

Rowan County got relief from extreme heat Tuesday, but the day was bookended by periods of very heavy rain, flooding threats and power outages.

Just two days after a 101-degree high made for the hottest day in more than 20 years, the temperature Tuesday climbed only into the high 80s on a day that dawned wet and largely stayed that way.

Storms Monday night spilled over into Tuesday morning and, though they didn’t pack the thunder and lightning of the nighttime weathermakers, they brought plenty of precipitation to parts of the county.

The National Weather Service issued flood advisories Tuesday morning and afternoon for parts of Rowan.

After a heavy morning rain that had drivers along Statesville, Innes and other Salisbury streets plowing through standing water, totals varied across the county.

L.L. Goodnight and Sons on Saw Road near Enochville recorded about a third of an inch of rain from 8 a.m. Monday through late Tuesday morning.

Bostian Heights Fire Chief Mike Zimmerman recorded a combined .7 of an inch Monday night and Tuesday morning at his house across the road from the fire station.

In western Rowan, the Piedmont Research Station on Sherrills Ford Road also recorded just over .7 inches Monday night and Tuesday morning, but an employee there measured 2 inches at his home in nearby Woodleaf.

Zimmerman said his department hadn’t responded to any weather-related calls by late Tuesday morning, but the storms caused damage elsewhere as the day progressed.

A downed power line caught a tree on fire at U.S. 52 near East Rowan High School around 9:30 a.m. Tuesday.

Later in the day — as heavy rains returned and the Weather Service warned of local streams flooding — firefighters reported a partial roof collapse at an unoccupied building on Airport Road.

And Frank and Dellene Gudger called to say the creek running behind the Hidden Creek subdivision off Jake Alexander Boulevard had escaped its banks, flooding their yard.

“It’s flooded three or four times in the past two years ... but this is the worst it’s ever been,” Dellene said.

She said Hidden Creek, which runs along the edge of her backyard and those of her neighbors, is partially blocked downstream with debris including tree limbs and logs. When heavy rains occur, the water is diverted and pours into the yard.

Tuesday afternoon’s rains produced the highest waters Dellene and her husband have seen in the three years they have lived there, reaching 3 feet deep at the lowest points of the yard, she said. It destroyed a flowerbed and washed away wood used for a horseshoe pit.

The weather also kept many Rowan residents in the dark Tuesday.

According to Duke Energy's website, 225 customers were without power at 9:41 a.m., giving Rowan the highest number of outages in Duke’s North Carolina service area.

Rowan also topped the North Carolina numbers at around 6:45 p.m., with 2,613 Duke customers without electricity.

Today’s high temperature will be near 90 degrees, the Weather Service predicts, with a 40 percent chance of rain today and thunderstorms this evening.