UPDATE (9:25 p.m.): U.S. 421 at the Lee and Chatham county line is now closed due to rising waters.
UPDATE (3:54 p.m.): Lee County Government announced that the state Department of Transportation has closed U.S. 15-501 at the Lee-Chatham county line due to rising waters:
ORIGINAL STORY:
While many in our area are picking up the limbs left behind from Hurricane Florence today, the biggest threat from the storm continues to be rising rivers.
The Deep River in northern Lee County, Little River in southwestern Harnett County and portions of the Cape Fear River that run through Lillington and Fayetteville have either crested or are nearly there. Several homes around these rivers have been evacuated (including the Keith Hills community near Campbell University), and major arteries in and out of Lee County are under threat of closure if they continue to rise.
U.S. 421
Lee County Government posted news that water was rising near U.S. 421 at the Lee and Chatham county line. The Deep River had risen to 25.55 feet in Randolph County Monday (five feet above flood stage) and damaged several roads in that county (completely washing out Clyde King Road in Ramseur). That water has reached us, and if the water crosses the lines into the lanes of travel, the N.C. Department of Transportation will close the road.
LGC today that 421 remains open in both directions through Lee County. The only issue in Lee County remains the ramp onto the highway from Business 421 (the Cumnock exit). High water has closed that entrance ramp until further notice.
In Harnett County, the U.S. 421 bridge that crosses the Cape Fear River in Lillington remains open, even though water from the Cape Fear has come eerily close to the bottom of the bridge (video below). The Cape Fear crested at 21.3 feet on Monday, nearly two full feet higher than its crest after Hurricane Matthew. The river has since gone down more than a foot.