Tropical Storm Chantal’s floods last July impacted 448 homes in Orange County – with more than half suffering major damage or being destroyed – and around 190 residents displaced. While many of those are in flood-prone areas, many people were unprepared to see water reach their homes amid the historic rainfall and flash floods. Some residents have returned, while others have either left or cannot yet, leaving the communities to grapple with their absence.
The residents in Carrboro’s Weatherhill Pointe neighborhood near Morgan Creek and University Lake experienced significant flooding the night of July 6, 2025. Forty of the 56 homes suffered damage from the floods, wrecking a tight-knit community in an area that was in high-demand whenever a property went on the market.
Lars Knapp, who serves as the Weatherhill Pointe Homeowners Association President, said similar to how everyone’s experience that night varied, the neighborhood has seen a range of outcomes for its affected residents.
“Some folks who have recovered very quickly are back in their houses, living their lives just like they did before the storm,” he told Chapelboro. “There are some houses that are still down to their studs, completely abandoned, no work has been done on them. There are folks who have left the community permanently, there are some folks who are just recently returned or plan to come back.”
Every few days, Knapp sees something he feels like reminds him of the floodwaters rising from the creek and community’s retention pond – like a new plank on a bridge or part of the street’s landscaping that still is growing back. Similarly, some residents are still unpacking boxes or finding items displaced during the flood.
The Weatherhill Pointe neighborhood, which is not far off Highway 54 in Carrboro, was primarily built in the 1980s and 1990s. Residents said flooding from Tropical Depression Chantal was the first time to their knowledge the neighborhood ever suffered flood damage this extensive. (Photo by Brighton McConnell/Chapel Hill Media Group.)
Judy Beckert-Jones, a Weatherhill Pointe homeowner since 2017, was one of the lucky residents to escape any home damage – although her car floated away in the flood, after she tried driving it to safety. She said the length of time it took for people to find a path toward stability was difficult to process on top of the emotions of learning which of their belongings were still around and salvageable.
“I know one of my friends was so sad that her [Christmas] tree topper was gone,” Beckert-Jones said. “It was a special thing from her past. And luckily after a few weeks and getting back into her house, she actually found it – and we were all so happy for her.
“I mean, it seems like a small thing,” she added. “But for some of these people…little things like that are really important.”
Not far down Highway 54 from Weatherhill Pointe is Canterbury Townhomes, which also experienced significant damage during Chantal’s downpour. The community saw flood waters rush into eight permanently owned units and 20 rented spaces, causing the need for significant cleanup and renovation across the last year.
HOA President Carolyn Kravchenko said Canterbury Townhomes only recently saw all eight homeowners safely return to their spaces, while the landlords of most of the rented units are still working on cleaning up and finding tenants.
“The neighborhood is thriving and we are growing,” Kravchenko said. “You can barely tell at this point that we even had a flood.”
On July 6, 2025, several of the Canterbury Townhome units nearest to Morgan Creek flooded so badly that residents were evacuated by boat. (Photo via Carolyn Kravchenko.)
That long rebuilding timeline is ongoing in other areas too – including Chapel Hill’s two public housing neighborhoods that took on water. The town government reported $800,000 worth of damage at Airport Gardens and S. Estes displaced 30 families of 105 people. As of July 1, eight families remain in temporary housing and several units at both developments are still undergoing repairs. Camelot Village – a townhome community collectively owned by landlords and residents – is also still undergoing extensive flood recovery. The Town of Chapel Hill said it issued 77 permits for flood-related repairs, with only three of those now completed after passing inspections.
As those homes sit empty, Weatherhill Pointe has some empty too – but intentionally kept that way. Some residents desperate for solutions in the months following Chantal sold their homes to investment groups, which the News & Observer reported then sold the properties for a significant profit on the same day.
Knapp says the new owners, most of which are LLCs not based in Carrboro, appear to be “warehousing” the homes and waiting for their property value to improve before making any sales. Both he and Beckert-Jones say Weatherhill Pointe residents are adjusting to the notion of having the single-family homes kept lifeless and having outside investors own in the neighborhood.
“It’s incredibly frustrating to see homes where you remember there being neighbors sit completely empty,” said Knapp, “when you know there’s plenty of people who would love to live in the neighborhood…would love to live near all the things Carrboro has to offer. It’s very challenging to see that opportunity isn’t there, because an investor is holding onto the home and not working with it at all.
“I will say,” he adds, “that we’re probably at full recovery when out of our 56 homes, we have 56 homes worth of people living here. That’s what it’ll feel like, to me.”
Meanwhile, a heavy rain now makes residents in both Weatherhill Pointe and Canterbury Townhomes anxious. Kravchenko said she gets nervous seeing a storm in the forecast, while Beckert-Jones said she pays much more attention to flood alerts and warnings.
Still, those who are in the neighborhoods fight to find silver linings from the experience. Both Knapp and Kravchenko praise the Town of Carrboro for its communication and connection of residents to resources in the days after the flood, as well as Habitat for Humanity for its volunteers restoring damaged homes to livable condition.
“Those folks would have lost their homes if they had not done that,” said Knapp. “Their home was their primary asset, and I am eternally grateful to the fact that some folks actually did get to keep their home and not have to sell to an investor, because that organization stepped in.”
“Everybody was just amazing,” said Kravchenko, who also credits Salt Box Construction for its tireless repairs on Canterbury Townhomes. “I just can’t thank people enough for helping us get back on our feet.”
CEO of Habitat for Humanity of Orange County Jennifer Player said the images and stories from Tropical Storm Chantal remain vivid a year later to her.
“It is still unimaginable what many people experienced as floodwaters damaged homes, displaced families, and upended daily life. Storms like Chantal remind us just how central our homes are to everything we do — they are where we find safety, stability, comfort, and connection. When that is taken away, the impact is profound. We were honored to stand alongside our neighbors during recovery, repairing homes and helping families regain a sense of security and hope.”
Residents in both Carrboro communities were already close with each other, but surviving the storm and soldiering through recovery helped forge those bonds even further. For weeks after Chantal, Beckert-Jones hosted a renter whose house across the street flooded. Even though the woman has since moved out of the neighborhood, she still returns frequently for game nights at Beckert-Jones’ home – just one example of how she believes the experience has led the Weatherhill Pointe neighbors to rely on each other more and more.
For the anniversary of the storm itself, the 78-year-old wanted to mark the occasion of having made it this far past Chantal and give people something to do instead of being alone.
Weatherhill Pointe residents gather in Judy Beckert-Jones’ home on July 6, 2026 for cake and ice cream to recognize the community’s resilience in response to last year’s Tropical Storm Chantal. (Photo via Judy Beckert-Jones.)
“I just threw out some invitations to people I knew in the neighborhood and said, ‘I’m having ice cream and cake Monday night, come over if you’re in town,’” Beckert-Jones said. “And I have, like, 28 people coming in here tonight. The response was tremendous.
“I think people really want to keep those connections going and they want that support from each other,” she concluded.
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