Cold Front Brings More Rain, Severe Weather
As the showers moved out late Monday, central and eastern North Carolina marked the third straight day of recorded rainfall.
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A second bout of precipitation in the early evening boosted rainfall totals in the Triangle but did not produce the dangerous, severe weather that had popped up earlier in the afternoon.
However, it did help produce enough standing water to cause an accident on Interstate 40 West in Durham County.
All westbound I-40 lanes were shut down at mile marker 278 at about 7:40 p.m. after six vehicles wrecked. The closure lasted for an hour and a half.
At times, that cold front threatened to spawn tornadoes. Twenty-one eastern counties – including Edgecombe, Greene, Halifax, Martin, Nash, Pitt and Wilson – stayed under a tornado watch for much of the evening.
A watch means that although a tornado has not been spotted, conditions exist that would allow one to develop.
NWS radar picked up a tornado near Bullocksvile and Kerr Lake at 2:11 p.m. and also tracked storms capable of producing tornadoes over Beaufort and Hyde counties around 5 p.m.
Once the latest band of rain moved through, Monday night would stay calm and mostly dry, WRAL Chief Meteorologist Greg Fishel predicted.
Slow-moving lines of strong storms and heavy rains tracked through the region for the past three days, creating significant rainfall totals.
The NWS reported that 1.04 inches had fallen at Raleigh-Durham International Airport by 8 p.m. Monday.
Raleigh received 1.75 inches, while Louisburg and Erwin each reported 1.32 inches. Clinton and Oxford got about an inch.
Chapel Hill and Rocky Mount both recorded rainfall around 0.8 inches, while Goldsboro, Sanford and Roxboro all got around half of an inch.
An NWS spotter said Goldsboro received 2.5 inches of its 3-inch total within 50 minutes on Sunday evening.
Monday, a wet road contributed to an accident on Interstate 440 West at Rock Quarry Road around 9 a.m. Monday, backing up traffic for miles and causing a 240-gallon diesel spill.
A 2001 GMC pickup truck hydroplaned and crossed several lanes, according to police. A tractor-trailer driver in the far right lane lane tried to stopped, but his vehicle collided with the the pickup and ran off the road.
The 25-year-old pickup truck driver and a nearly 8-month-old infant, who was in a child restraint seat, were taken to a hospital, police said. Their injuries were not thought to be serious.
Troopers did not cite either driver in the accident.
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