911 call captures woman's final moments in Chantal floodwaters
A 911 call captured a woman’s final moments as Chantal floodwaters swallowed her car in Alamance County, one of six direct storm deaths in North Carolina.
A 911 call captured a woman’s final moments as floodwaters from Tropical Storm Chantal engulfed her car in Alamance County, a death that is now part of a storm toll the National Hurricane Center put at six direct fatalities in North Carolina. The agency said most of those deaths came from heavy rainfall and associated flooding.
Chantal, the third named storm of the 2025 Atlantic hurricane season, affected central North Carolina on July 6, 2025. The National Weather Service office in Wilmington traced the system to a tropical depression that developed east of Jacksonville, Florida, on July 4 before strengthening into Tropical Storm Chantal. By the time the storm reached Alamance County, WXII reported that it had brought heavy rain, flash flooding and tornado warnings to the area.
Local officials moved quickly as conditions worsened. The City of Graham declared a state of emergency because Tropical Storm Chantal was impacting Alamance County with flooding and dangerous travel. The Alamance Chamber later posted storm information and resources for the community as residents dealt with road closures, rising water and damage across the county.
The woman’s death puts a harsh focus on the narrow margin drivers have once floodwater starts to rise. In a storm like Chantal, the danger did not come only from rainfall totals, but from the combination of fast-moving water, low visibility and roads that can appear passable until a vehicle is trapped. Once water reached the car, the options narrowed fast, and the 911 call became a record of that collapse.
For Alamance County, the incident underscores how flood-warning systems depend on early action from drivers as much as on alerts from public agencies. When water covers a roadway, the safest choice is to turn around before entering it and to wait for local officials to reopen the route. Chantal showed how quickly a travel warning can become a fatal emergency, and how little time remains after a car is surrounded by floodwater.
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