Chapel Hill preps for Michael while still recovering from Florence

View The Original Article Here

— Chapel Hill is preparing for the possibility of heavy rain and wind from Hurricane Michael, but Camelot Village, a condo community heavily damaged by Hurricane Florence, now fears what Michael could bring.

Many of the first-floor units remain vacant at Camelot Village because they were heavily damaged by Hurricane Florence.

There’s still residue in the parking lot, a dumpster with people’s possessions, and equipment left behind by crews. Crews have been working for weeks to try and fix the damage and now they worry Michael could set them back.

“So far, we just keep going to make sure people can go back to their places,” said Cristobal Santillanes, a contractor.

The units on the second floor were spared.

“All of the stuff from the first floor that had to be taken out was just sitting out, spilling into the parking lot,” said Kelsey Noll, who lives at Camelot Village. “It smelled really foul and rank here for a couple weeks.”

Noll worries for her downstairs neighbors, especially because Camelot Village is a largely low-income community.

“They’re the people who least have the means to be able to relocate and find a better place to go,” she said.

Chapel Hill Public Information Officer Ran Northam said staff has done storm preps all over town — clearing debris from creeks, and trimming low-lying limbs or at risk trees.

“We do know that some people are still in the recovery efforts. The town is still in its recovery efforts,” Northam said.

He urges everyone to take the storm seriously.

“We don’t want people to become complacent or to underestimate what this storm could do,” he said.