WILMINGTON — Massive trees were seen fallen across the city’s roads and onto houses Saturday as the rains from Florence continued to fall, heightening concerns for major flooding in the coming days.
Resident Tom Mann was standing on River Road just east of the Cape Fear River Saturday afternoon, bracing for the afternoon’s high tide to come across the tidal swamp and into his neighborhood. He said he saw a rigged up truck with a few feet of clearance attempt to pass through a flooded section of the road earlier in the day, then turned around when water came to its door.
“It was hectic (Friday), some 100 mile-per-hour winds, trees on the road, two foot of water in the house. It flows with the tide, goes out as fast as it comes in,” Mann said.
Carolina Beach resident Adam Priest had tried to gain access onto the island to assess damage on his home but was turned away by a police barricade at the island’s only access route, Snow’s Cut Bridge. He believes the flooding in areas along the Cape Fear River will continue to get worse.
“All the flooding that happened through here is being influenced by the Cape Fear, and now we’re gonna have all the water from the storm that’s inland coming down, and it’s going to raise the Cape Fear even higher as that water makes its way down from the inland part of the state out through the mouth of the Cape Fear,” Priest said.
Thick rain continued to pour Sunday morning as the city’s residents, emergency response personnel, power crews, and government officials now have their eyes on the rising floods.
Mark Darrough can be reached at Mark@Localvoicemedia.com
