Flood of the Century: 25 Years Later

GREENVILLE, N.C. (WNCT) — September 16 marks 25 years since one of the deadliest and most destructive hurricanes in North Carolina history made landfall.

In 1999, Hurricane Floyd made landfall near Wilmington as a Category 2 hurricane with 105 miles per hour winds. But, inland flooding became the biggest issue after another storm named Dennis affected Eastern North Carolina just two weeks before Floyd’s arrival.

“Dennis I remember how it came up the first time just off the coast, but gave us tons of rain. It stalled off Virginia, then it came back down and again. All the rivers rose after Dennis to near flood stage. And then, of course, that set the stage for Floyd to really pound us with the major flooding.” said Phillip Williams, former WNCT meteorologist.

“The biggest takeaway for me is to be able to say the number of people that to this day, to this day, this many years later, come up to me and say, I remember when.” said David Sawyer, WNCT meteorologist.

Watch the documentary “Flood of the Century: 25 Years Later” on Monday, September 23 at 7:30 on WNCT.

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