ABC11 Eyewitness News - Eyewitness News at Noon - July 23, 2026

Episode Date: July 23, 2026

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Right now, live coverage from your local newsleader. Today's top stories you need to know and your first alert forecast. Here's what's happening where you live. This is ABC 11 eyewitness news. Thank you for joining us for eyewitness news at noon on this first alert day. I'm Barbara Gibbs. I'm Amber Repenta. Yeah, very busy on the radar behind us.

As you can see an active day, a flash flood watch is now in effect through tonight. And a flash flood warning for the sandhills until 3 o'clock. Yeah, our crews are. spread out all across the viewing area as the heavy rain causes a lot of messy conditions and you see them there. Let's check in with meteorologist Quaylon Murphy with an update. I know we just talked to Penelope Lopez. Boy, it was coming down. All the scary kind of rain coming down there. Definitely strong storms there. And that's where our isolated severe threat will be as well around the sand hills throughout the day today. The sand hills have been rather dry this morning, but then things have started to pick up for you within the last hour or so. So this is where the flash foot warning, the newest one, has been issued. for our southern counties, Harnett, Cumberland, into Samson, parts of Johnston County, Wayne County, back into Hoke as well. This isn't until 3 o'clock this afternoon. We also have a flood advisory. Many areas, including the triangle, saw some heavy rain this morning for many hours, and we still have some impacts on the roads that could lead to some street flooding. This advisory continues for southern areas now until 2 o'clock this afternoon for minor flooding. So here's your radar picture and definitely a different look for our northern areas and in the triangle. This is worthy and more intense. downpours are now into Fayville, down into thunderstorm activity there, into Mingo and Samson County, Clinton, you have some storms just off to your north. And again, these are the areas, Cumberland and Samson that will have to watch for quick spin-ups that could occur at times

this afternoon. So you not only have the flood threat, but you do have an isolated tornado threat as well. To the north of I-D-5, a break for you now. We're seeing some lighter showers only and a lot of dry spots, too, but still some light rain for Durham County, back into Raleigh, some light to moderate rain for parts of Alamans County, Chatham down into morse and thunderstorms around southern pines there. Rainfall total so far, two to six plus inches around the target zone early this morning, but some of that stretching back to the east, a good three plus inches around I-95. So you're walking you through the next couple of hours. Again, I do expect more activity to develop south and east of the triangle. Could be severe. We'll be monitoring radar closely

this afternoon along with meteorologist Steve Stewart. Later this evening, though, we do have a chance for more scattered storms. So if you have evening plans, including concert plans, this brings me some concern later on this evening, especially if you'll be outdoors. There will be more showers and storms overnight, so that could disrupt your travel plans if you travel overnight or disrupt your sleep a little bit more to tomorrow morning. Flood watch goes through tonight. I think it's extended into early tomorrow morning as well for the sand hills. But look at the temperatures. Rain cooled air at RDU now, 68 degrees. That's down from the mid-70s this morning. So that's the impact not only the rain is having, but also the front that's starting to settle in.

We have winds north at nine miles per hour. It's still very muggy. Do points are in the 60s right now. And visibility are low as well. We had 80s all morning long for the sand hills, but now the rain working in 75 and Fayetteville still 81 degrees in Clinton. This is the other reason why you're primed for a chance for isolated storms at times this afternoon. Here are the low visibility with the downpours and that's a correlation here for Fayetteville down the one half of mile one in So scattered storms through the evening hours, temps in the 70s. Here's one of the concerts, Carter Finley, Guns and Roses,

classic rock band, right? But we do have a scattered storm potential this evening, temps in the 70s, please have your backup plan. If you need to head to a safe, sturdy shelter, that may mean your vehicle in order for you to be safe. We're tracking Bertha 2. It's on its way to Texas. That right now, Max wins 45 miles per hour,

60 on the gust, moving west at 10 miles per hour. Most of the rain displaced well south of that center of circulation, but still tropical storm alerts for parts of central and western Louisiana into Texas, too, including around the coastline there. Here's that rainfall heaviest, there's the coastline of Texas, so most of that will be offshore. When I come back, I'll walk you through some of the dry times we'll see Friday into your weekend, and when temperatures rebound to the 90s. That's coming up. Anna, I'm sorry, Amber and Barbara, back to you. Hey, we forgive you. You've been on for a long time. Thank you, Gwalen.

Let's go to Fayetteville now where Penelope Lopez has been monitoring conditions there and they're seeing some heavy rain bands come through. Hi, Penelope. Hey, good afternoon. Yeah, it's been pretty nasty out here for these past couple of minutes. I'll just show you. We are now back in Fayetteville. So we were in Hope Mills a couple of minutes ago and you can see those as heavy down for rain. And we're experiencing the same thing here in Fayetteville as we mentioned before. It's just kind of hard. to see the road. Things are clearing up a bit here in Fayetteville compared to Hope Mills. You can see that it seems like it's breaking up just a bit, which is bringing in some relief to the community here because it was it was really hard to see, but still it's dangerous out here. So if you are driving, just make sure to take it slow. We're not seeing any cars with their with their flashes on, But it's still pretty nasty out here. We're also seeing some puddles on the roadway.

People will just, drivers to just take extra precaution as we continue to be in the thick of this storm right now. But like you're seeing, it is pretty bad out here for now. For now, I'll just say, you know, just make sure that you have that space in between the car in front of you and the car behind you because you just never know and just take it easy. for now, sending it back to you guys live in the studio, live in Fayetteville, Penelope Lopez, ABC 11, eyewitness news. All right. Y'all be careful, too, Penelope.

And yeah, that's great news. Today, give people plenty of room because, you know, you can slide in no time. Yeah, the ponding on the roadways is no joke for hydroplaining. Speaking of roadways, let's see how things look in Raleigh. Yeah, John Dowding is live for us where a tree is down. I know this is, gosh, happening all over the viewing area. John, where are you? and what's happening behind you.

Yeah, Barbara, Amber, this is the biggest problem today. The dangers of the trees coming down. We're seeing it happening all across Raleigh. We saw it earlier today when we were on Spring Forest Road, and now we're here on Tallwood Drive in North Raleigh. I mean, just take a look at how massive this tree is. Blocking the roadway here, it came down earlier this morning. This is the main entrance into a neighborhood back here.

We've seen so many cars turning around. We're going to start with some good news, though. We're going to go pan up here and show you. miss the power lines here. We don't see any power lines down. We don't see any Duke energy crews out here. So that's a good news for anybody living out here. We did see spectrum out here. And there might have been a potential disruption to spectrum service customers out here because of this tree coming down. But we again, just look at how big this tree is here. It's blocking the entire roadway. You see just how tall the tree was when it was standing here. And also we're going

to show you guys, look at the root system here. Look at the base of this tree. This is how big tree is that came down here. Obviously an older tree that blocking these this entire roadway. I'm not great at math here. So I'm going to say that root system here, that's probably like one and a half me. I'm like around five five. So that's got to be at least like eight feet or so like just going up and down here. It is a massive tree here. Again, we're seeing this happen all over the place. We saw it on a major roadway and on Spring Forest Road earlier today. We're seeing it here in a residential neighborhood close to Falls Lake. Again, this is happening everywhere in Raleigh. out on the roads just be careful where you're driving because you're going to be coming up on

roads and you're going to be seeing this blocking where you're trying to go to so just be extra careful if you're heading out and about today and especially as quailin was talking about as we're expected to get some worse storms as the day continues to go on here live here in north raleigh i'm john doughting a bc 11 high witness news right john thank you that's a very large tree behind john there absolutely all right let's head to carry now all right diane wilson is there Diane, where are you specifically and what are you seeing? Good afternoon, Barbara and Amber. We are downtown Carrie, specifically just in the heart of downtown carry, to be honest with you on Chatham Street here. We're passing through downtown and we have a lull in the storm right now. You can see people are out without an umbrella.

Our windshield wiper, they're moving a little bit, but I live in Carrie earlier today. Yes, we did have some downpours. I even heard the thunder coming. But for the most part right now, we're just getting a little break, which is getting people out and about for the luncheon. hour as they're exploring downtown Carrie, but we have been driving around. We have not seen any major problems. There's a little bit of traffic, but I mean right now, Carrie is just in the break of the storm right now. So back to you guys. Right. Diane Wilson Forrest live in Carrie. A little sun coming through there and Carrie where Diane. We're ready for it to come out. Yes. All right. Let's go to Elena Athens. She is in Johnston County on the conditions there. Hi, Lina. Good afternoon to you, Amber. Yeah, we're in Clayton right now along Government Road

where several trees did come crashing down on the roadway. It has been cleared. Let me step out of the shot right now. So give you a live look right now. I think what we're seeing over here, when we rolled up here about maybe 15, 20 minutes ago, DO2 crews were still on scene and they were removing that massive tree branch or I should say a trunk that was across the roadway. Several branches also came crashing down. So you can see the trunk on one side of the roadway, the branches. They are on the other side of government road. Traffic is resumed so people can roll through this section of Clayton right now.

The rain is subsided for a little bit. However, Johnson County officials are really encouraging people to use caution the next few days warning that there could be flash flooding at any time between now and Friday morning. So that's the very latest live from Johnson County. Elaine Athens, ABC 11, I witness news. All right, Elena, thank you. And we'll be right back with more coverage. Drop everything.

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Distractions. Conditions apply. Scotia Bank. You're richer than you think. Welcome back. I know. It's a first alert day. It is busy.

You can see the Doppler behind us. Just a lot of activity. All right. Cindy Bay is live for us in Wake County. There's so much going on in that area and boy behind you Cindy that tree we've seen so many huge trees coming down across the viewing area Yeah, that's right Barbara and we've even been blocked by at least three trees that have fought fallen and Covered a blocked roadway so we had to get around and it was a bit of a trip to get to this location, but we are in the neighborhood on on Bridgepoint South. It's just north of 540 near northern Wake expressway where you can see that this tree on this home on Daycroft Court, this large oak tree

has fallen on top of this house. You can see the damages from the ground blocking the entrance to the front door and going up, you can see the damage to the roof right there. But it seems that these homeowners acted quickly to put tarp over the roof. It's unclear whether the homeowners are inside the home right now. We haven't seen anybody outside. We just see this large tree on top of this home. So we haven't we're working to see if we could talk to somebody or find somebody. But right now it just seems that the damage is there, but the roof is being protected by that blue tarp. We don't see any damages to the windows, but mostly the roofs, the shingles on top.

And we see a lot of debris just blocking the front entrance of the home. And so again, this is a home on Daycroft Court. in northern Wake County. And so we've seen several like this, maybe not as large as this tree, but down trees definitely across roadways where drivers had to turn around in this neighborhood. So it's a bit of a trick to get around in these neighborhoods.

So just beware if you're driving around in neighborhoods to just be careful of your surroundings and to turn around if you do see a tree blocking the roadway. Back to you. All right. Wow, what a scene there and keep us updated. And I know if the family's not there and they come home to that, boy, What a sight to be seen.

Cindy, thank you. We will continue our first alert day coverage after a short break. And we are back on this first alert day. It's Thursday, almost made it to Friday, but boy, a very busy weather day. I can't believe all the trees down. Boy, sandhills is really getting a lot of heavy rainfall right now. It's their turn now after a pretty dry morning and a quiet morning too, but this rain has been helpful. We've had some decent rain over the last several days.

This is Thursday, which means it's drought monitor day. Last week, our drought monitor showed the extreme to exceptional drought across the triangle points north and even south. Some improvement today with the latest update here, severe drought. So that's one classification improvement for Wake County. Still extreme drought around Durham County and to Orange as well and north along I-85. But what's been most important is the rain again over the last seven days. The rain today will go into next week's drought monitor. Although we've been seeing some locally heavy rain in spots, it's also been helping out with the lake levels.

I've had to update the lake levels for Falls Lake a couple of times today to indicate that the lake levels are now falling, which is what we want to see. That continuance into next week as well, hopefully with the rainfall on the way through tomorrow and Saturday. Jordan Carlin Lake Gaston also below full pool at this point. Radar is showing first alert Doppler net with showers and storms across the board. Heaviest now for areas to the south and the sand hills. So from Hook County to Cumberland and Samson, we have lightning showing up with some downpours here. north of Clinton heading into areas around Mont Olive, also seeing locally heavy rain into parts of Harnet County too.

We've seen in just an hour's time over Cumberland County, one to two inches of rainfall here. So that's been some decent downpours. More importantly, we've seen the rainfall around the basin for Falls Lake, and that's really critical to helping those lake levels rise again. But for now, nice break coming for Durham County. There's more rainfall out to the west over Orange.

That rainfall will continue to build to the east. Some scattered light showers over Wake County into Franklin as well and a scattering of light showers along I-95 too. We still have the flash flood warnings until 3 o'clock for now for areas to the south. As the day goes on and we continue to add to rain totals, we could see more warnings getting extended and added to the area. Flood advisories also for areas to the south. These go until two for the time being.

This is the rainfall over the last 12 hours. It really takes us into the morning hours. And again, in the target zone here, two to six plus inches of rain, up to three inches of rainfall for some areas off to the east. And as I mentioned, it's this Falls Lake corridor that we really need the rain to happen in order for those lake levels to improve. Trees have been uprooted. Here's the deal. We've been dry at times, but also now saturated grounds with the rainfall lately. So that equals weaker root anchoring. And when you get those gusty winds, they don't have to be too strong. 30 to 40 plus miles per hour that uproots the trees. And that can lead to

toppling of the trees as we've been seeing so far today with those power lines coming down as well. So of course that impacts traffic, but many people without power too. Hopefully that gets restored soon. Flood watch goes through tonight another two to four plus inches of the rain still possible through this time. So here's big picture. This is regional. We have the cold front still pushing into the area now. But the problem is it doesn't make its way to the coast until Friday into Saturday.

And this is where the front stalls. And so as it kind of meanders here, that's going to allow for more disturbances to work along it and bring in that chance for showers and storms. Let me walk you through the rest of today. This is 2 o'clock the afternoon. Scattered storms to the south. We could see some breaks around the triangle for a short time. Next batch of rain rolls in this evening, rain and storms potentially. That continues overnight into Friday.

We start off Friday with wet conditions for those commutes. I think from Raleigh, south and east is how it looks right now. But then we'll see some breaks into midday on Friday. So you'll get to enjoy some dry time, a chance to recover for any damage it has happened today. Another round of rain though works since Saturday morning. I think with the weak disturbance here, maybe a little mezzo low activity. This could mean some gustyer winds and downpours at times, efficient rainfall makers Saturday morning. But then by midday, afternoon and evening, drier conditions, and even maybe some clear sky into late Saturday night, early Sunday.

Nothing clear about this look right now. It's overcast, gray visibility are low. Rain still happening, but 60s with temperatures tumbling behind the cold air here. 72 in Roxborough, rain cold air in Sanford and Goldsboro. and Fayetteville has cooled to 75 after starting in the 80s this morning. It'll be 72 degrees at four scattered storms into evening through tonight. And more rain possible early tomorrow morning as well. Rain chances do drop off for the second half of your weekend.

So that looks like the better part of your weekend. Monday will be the driest day of this stretch next front Tuesday and Wednesday. So I have more scattered showers and storms in the forecast. Bertha is still hanging on for not much longer, though. It's second and final landfall will come later today. Texas as a tropical storm and then it continues moving inland. But these orange shaded areas here represent tropical storm alerts and that means still some gusty winds of 40 plus miles per hour along the central and western coast of Louisiana

and into eastern Texas as well. So the first alert day continues through tonight potentially into tomorrow as well with rainfall that could lead to some flooding concerns. 70s for highs today and tomorrow 60s at night that'll be nice 81 on Saturday mid to upper 80s on Sunday as we break into a little more sensitive sunshine later in the day. Monday partly cloudy, dry, hot, and humid. That's summer. 91 degrees. Summer fuel continues Tuesday and Wednesday with a few storms out there, but nothing like today. Highs, low to mid-90s, 70s at night. I love the 70s. I know. It's going to feel good tonight, too. All right. We'll be right back. Summer heats up in FX's The Shards.

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and you can see the rainy conditions there and that truck on its side. At the time, we're working to confirm if weather played a role in this crash, the State Highway Patrol is investigating. And rain could also be a problem for tonight's Guns and Roses show in Raleigh. It's happening, of course, outside.

At Carter Finley Stadium, at 6.30, around 6.30, the show could also lead to heavy traffic in that area during rush hours. So keep that in mind, especially with the unsettled weather. Concert goers are encouraged to arrive early. and to buy parking in advance to speed up your entry. And just a heads up, umbrellas are not allowed inside Carter Finley Stadium.

All right, we do have some good news for you. Power has been restored for thousands of people in South Durham. The outage map here from Duke Energy showing no outages in that part of the city. We know South Point Mall was without power for a while. We're going to check in with our crews there to get an update on what's happening at the mall. And of course, if you do lose power, Duke Energy wants you to report your outage by texting the word out to five- 7801, you can also use the Duke Energy app or website to report any outages. And we'll be right back.