Unlike after Florence, recovery comes quickly to Sampson County after Dorian

By Gilbert Baez, WRAL Fayetteville reporter

Clinton, N.C. — Much of Sampson County was flooded after Hurricane Florence a year ago, but Hurricane Dorian spared the county.

About 4,000 residents and businesses in the county, including about half of Clinton, were without power from Thursday night until Friday afternoon, officials said. The problem was with a Duke Energy transmission line, and crews spent hours tracing and fixing the problem.

The outage was tough on small businesses like Barbara’s inside Yard Sale, but owner Barbara Mattocks said the situation could have been worse.

“I think we were blessed, is what I think. We can deal with this little bit of water,” said Mattocks, who said she spent the day mopping up after Clinton received almost 7 inches of rain from Dorian.

The coast got much more rain from Dorian – and Sampson County got much more from Florence last year – but there was some isolated flooding in the area.

Six Runs Creek overflowed its banks, making Old Warsaw Road impassable.

Dorian’s rains also washed out part of the embankment on Pearson Road near Cartertown Road. The road will be closed until crews can make repairs.