After church floods, community members help rebuild

By Luke Notestine, WRAL photojournalist

Pembroke, N.C. — Horace Oxendine is a pastor at his own church, but he was at Harpers Ferry Baptist Church in Pembroke on Wednesday doing contract work.

Six inches of water poured into the church during Hurricane Florence, turning the floor soft and causing it to break.

“This place has been remodeled about three times in my lifetime,” Oxendine said. “I remodeled it the last time in the sanctuary, and so it’s like deja vu. I’m living it all over again.”

Elishah Locklear lives a mile down the road from the church. He lost almost everything in the flood.

“That water had crept back up to the bottom of the doorstep, got up over the top of it and kept rising,” he said

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A retired teacher and Army veteran, Locklear is proud to call Harpers Ferry home.

“I’ve never wanted to stay anywhere else,” he said. “This has always been home.”

The water level reached 22 inches inside his house. He and his family lost most of their possessions, but he said he’s managing to keep a positive perspective.

“All these things, all this is precious,” Locklear said. “But it’s not as precious as your life. And we’re glad to be alive.”