Storm chaser Aaron Jayjack, who witnessed a bridge collapse underneath an SUV and found himself stuck in a North Carolina town cut off by flooding, breaks down his experience of the Sept. 16 tropical rainstorm
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00:00Monday was a day that the residents of Brunswick County in North Carolina will
00:03never forget, and a day that I will never forget. A tropical rainstorm made
00:08landfall on the southeastern North Carolina coast, bringing with it immense
00:11amounts of rainfall. A band of rain set up like a fire hose, dumping rain by the
00:17truckload, first on Carolina Beach and then in my location in Southport. This
00:23prompted flash flood warnings to be issued, even tornado warnings were being
00:26issued. I encountered many vehicles that were trying to drive through these
00:29floodwaters, becoming stuck and stalled out. In fact, while I was live on the
00:33AccuWeather network, one vehicle tried to drive through some floodwaters that
00:37were going over a bridge. Underneath this bridge was a creek, and when they tried
00:41to drive through those waters, they fell through the bridge. Fortunately, they were
00:46okay, only with minor injuries. Myself and another person were able to get them out
00:50of the vehicle and to safety, but this underscores the importance of why it is
00:54dangerous to drive through floodwaters. You just never know what's going on
00:57underneath those waters on the roadway. Roadways can be washed out or
01:01compromised, and that's exactly what happened with this vehicle. Now the rain
01:06stopped, but after many hours there were still problems in Southport. I was stuck
01:12in Southport along with many others. I couldn't find a way out of there. Many
01:16roads were washed out or just covered with water. Eventually, I was able to get
01:21out of Southport after spending the night at a church there. On Tuesday
01:25morning, I made my way out of the Southport area, and as I did, I encountered
01:29what looked like a war zone. Many vehicles, by the dozens, that were stalled
01:34out and abandoned on the side of the road. Problems will continue down there
01:38in Southport, Carolina Beach, across Brunswick County for some time as they
01:43continue to clean up and roadways need to be built. Reporting for AccuWeather,
01:47I'm Aaron Jajak.