GREENSBORO, N.C. — The rain came in fast across Greensboro and left just as quickly. But more is expected into next week.
Two months-worth of rain hit the City of Greensboro in a five hour span Wednesday night. Some of the areas most affected were neighborhoods like Lindley Park, West Friendly, Latham Park, and Revolution Mill.
A flash flood warning went into effect for Guilford County around 8 p.m. and ended around 10 p.m. Within that short time, Greensboro Police say "numerous" water rescues happened around the city.
Buffalo Creek reached a record flood stage level near 18 feet. That’s higher than last year during Hurricane Florence or anything else since the flood station was installed in 1998.
With all the major flash flooding we saw, we want to know if anything can be done to help the city's flooding problem. The quick answer: no. There's nothing they can do to solve the problem. But the City says it's not because they haven't tried.
"In a rain event like we had last night, there's really not much that can be done, not from an engineering perspective or otherwise." said David Phlegar, Stormwater Management Manager for the City of Greensboro. "It was a really bad storm."
The City says it's just low lying areas with streams or creeks running through and that they maintain storm drains nearly every day to prevent clogs. With heavy rains like last night's, the water in these low-lying areas has no where to go.
"That amount of rain water coming to this area, no matter what obstruction is right here, it's going to flood the area ," Phlegar added.
Another area that's seen a fair share of flooding and losses are the residents of Pinecroft Place Apartments. Flooding kept them from entering and leaving their homes for hours in early July. Last year, the city condemned 32 units at Pinecroft Place Apartments after flooding from Hurricane Florence. The same units condemned in 2003.
One resident, Zach Price, says last night was worse than the flooding in July.
"Water [got] into engines of cars," he shared. "[It] was worse this time and this is the second time in two weeks."
Don Sheffield, Chief Building Inspector for the City of Greensboro says the complex has submitted proposals for a flood wall to help.
"The problem is if they build a flood wall, they make units inaccessible for handicap people," said Sheffield.
This is a developing story as we look for answers from experts on what are some of the options the City has, but hasn't been able to achieve.
