At least seven people are dead and two others were missing Thursday night after flash flooding destroyed bridges, submerged roads, and swept across a campground. Alexander County was the hardest-hit of the five counties under a state of emergency, with at least three dead when floodwaters inundated a campground and a fourth person was killed in their car when floodwaters destroyed a bridge. The widespread and extreme rainfall — which pushed multiple rivers to or past “major flood” levels — was “a direct association with Eta,” pulling “deep tropical moisture” ahead of a cold front moving across Virginia and the Carolinas, meteorologist Dennis Feltgen of the National Hurricane Center told the New York Times. Warmer air, heated by global warming, holds more water vapor. Just as a bigger bucket can hold and dump more water, a warmer atmosphere can therefore dump more water when it rains. “Remember this is not a dot on a map,” Mr. Feltgen said. “These are large storms with impacts over a large area. Eta is a classic example.” (New York Times, CNN $; Flood levels: WTVD-Raleigh; Charlotte rainfall: Accuweather; Climate Signals background: Extreme precipitation)