Flood warnings continue as Guilford County sees over 4 inches of rain

Floodwater along the I-40 corridor in Guilford County reached more than 4.7 inches in some spots, and the National Weather Service’s Greensboro forecast area, NCZ022, listed a flood watch through this evening. Flash flood warnings also covered Guilford and nearby counties as slow-moving thunderstorms kept dumping rain across the Piedmont Triad.

The hardest-hit local trouble spots included High Point, Jamestown, Oak Hollow Marina and Greensboro. A flash flood warning for southwestern Guilford County covered those areas until 9:30 p.m. in one alert, with rainfall totals reaching 1 to 2 inches in the previous hour. Another warning stretched through 2:45 a.m. on July 23 for Guilford, Forsyth, Davidson and Randolph counties, and a separate alert extended through 4:45 a.m. for northeastern Davidson, Forsyth, Guilford and Randolph counties.

The rain did not come as a single burst. Local weather coverage said some Triad locations had taken on more than 6 inches in a recent rain event, and WFMY News 2 described northern Guilford County as facing flash flooding after 6-plus inches of rain in one storm sequence. That kind of repeated runoff is what puts low-lying streets, highway ramps and access roads at risk first, especially along the Interstate 40 corridor from Greensboro toward High Point.

Guilford County Emergency Management points residents to Ready Guilford for preparedness information, while Greensboro’s GEANI alert system pushes urgent notices by cell phone, text, home phone and email. Those alerts matter when water starts cutting across commute routes and threatening response times for fire, rescue and road crews.

The pattern has shown up before. During Tropical Depression Chantal in July 2024, heavy rain flooded I-40/85 in Orange County and closed lanes on I-95 elsewhere in North Carolina, a reminder that major corridors can seize up quickly when storm bands stall over the state.