Millions under flood alerts as Tropical Depression Chantal hits North Carolina, Virginia
More than 5 million people were under flood alerts in North Carolina and Virginia with nearly 2 million under Flash Flood Warnings after Chantal made landfall early Sunday.
Now a Tropical Depression, Chantal was the first named storm of the 2025 Atlantic hurricane season to hit the United States, flooding properties and prompting rescue efforts.
The National Hurricane Center warned of flash flood concerns across parts of northern North Carolina late Sunday and Virginia into Monday. Life-threatening surf and rip currents are expected to continue at beaches from northeastern Florida to the mid-Atlantic states, the center said.
Widespread flash flooding was ongoing across much of North Carolina’s Orange, Alamance and Chatham counties Sunday evening “as rainfall amounts of 4 to 7 inches have been observed in the area with localized amounts in excess of 8 inches,” the National Weather Service Sunday night.
“Numerous water rescues have occurred this evening and some homes flooded.”
The Eno River, which runs through Orange and Durham counties in North Carolina, rose around 20 feet in about four hours Sunday evening, according to the .
Chantal came ashore around 4 a.m. ET Sunday near Litchfield by the Sea, South Carolina, according to the hurricane center, about 10 to 20 miles south of Myrtle Beach. The tropical storm was packing sustained winds between 50 and 60 mph at landfall, with stronger gusts.
Chantal is the third named storm of the Atlantic season — a mark usually hit around early August. It will continue to drench parts of the Southeast and create risky beach conditions through Monday.
The system deteriorated into a tropical depression late Sunday morning as it tracked deeper inland and farther north.
Despite Chantal’s loss of tropical storm status, the system will still bring periods of heavy rain to the Carolinas and other parts of the mid-Atlantic. A level 2-of-4 risk of flooding rainfall was in place for portions of the Carolinas Sunday, according to the Weather Prediction Center. This rain will spread farther north early in the week.
Outside of the Southeast, most of the country had ideal conditions for July Fourth weekend, particularly in the Northeast and West, where calm, mostly clear skies were expected. The Southeast is likely to dry out by Tuesday.
Texas and the Upper Midwest could continue to see strong to severe thunderstorms with damaging winds and hail through the weekend. Torrential rainfall triggered deadly flooding in Texas early Friday morning as rivers rushed beyond their banks and flooded nearby campgrounds and homes.
