 The hurricane hit the Gulf Coast two days earlier, weakened over land, and stalled on the eastern side of the Blue Ridge Mountains, dumping a world record quantity of of rain, mainly in a three-hour period.Over five hours, it yielded more than , while the previous day had seen a deluge of in half an hour, with the ground already saturated.There were reports of animals drowning in trees and people who had had to cup their hands around their mouth and nose to breathe.