UNION COUNTY, N.C. -- As floodwaters began to pour over streets across the metro Charlotte area Sunday, video of people attempting to walk through those waters began to emerge.
At Indian Trail in Union County, NBC Charlotte's Xavier Walton talked with Kevin Pressly, who said he witnessed several teens trying to cross a very-flooded Fairview Road.
While what might be in those waters could be disturbing enough for some (one NBC Charlotte photojournalist described seeing "swimming rats"), there's another reason people shouldn't try to stroll through the flood, Pressly said.
"What you have here is what you cannot see is right to the right of the road...is a big 3-foot drainage pipe," he said. "And since that drainage pipe is underwater, it has an underground current that is going out directly to the creek out there, and if they step off in there they could be sucked in there, sucked into that pipe and drown."
Pressly, who owns The Bridge Restaurant near the road and is the mayor of Hemby Bridge, put up roadblocks in an attempt to stop the floodwater foot traffic.
Despite the barriers, Pressly said he saw several people and even a truck roll past and cross the water-covered road.
"People are just not heeding the warning: don't get where it's barricaded out. That's what they're here for," he said.
According to the National Weather Service, the second-highest percentage of flood-related deaths is due to walking into or near flood water.
Union County was one of several areas placed under a Flash Flood Emergency Sunday after Florence slowly crawled across the metro area. A curfew was put into effect in the county from 7 p.m. Sundy until 7 a.m. Monday.
The rain was expected to continue into the evening, raising more concerns that the flooding could be just the beginning.
PHOTOS: Florence flooding the Carolinas
