Residents of this North Carolina town describe how an unnamed 'once-in-a-century' storm snuck up on them ::7, 2024:: Carolina Beach, North Carolina:: Duke Hagestrom, The Fudgeboat owner:: "I want to say it kind of snuck up on us.

Monday's deluge centered on Carolina Beach south of Wilmington, where more than 18 inches (46 centimeters) of rain fell in 12 hours. That amount of rain in that period of time qualifies as a so-called 1,000-year flood expected only once in a that era, meteorologists at the National Weather Service office in Wilmington said.

Some parts of southeastern North Carolina received around 23 inches of rain as schools and public offices stayed closed on Tuesday.