Columbus County residents deal with aftermath of Tropical Storm Debby

WHITEVILLE, NC (WWAY) — Some areas of Columbus County are still dealing with flooding in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Debby.

According to a State Department of Transportation Incident Management Supervisor, several streets remain flooded in Whiteville.

The DOT used a drone to assess storm damage throughout Whiteville, the first time they have used the drone in that way following a tropical storm or hurricane.

While most Whiteville residents aren’t dealing with flooding, it was an issue early Thursday.

Ariel Cruz said he had to sleep in his car Wednesday night because he couldn’t get home.

“I would say last night was pretty bad, pretty rough,” Cruz said. “The roads were completely flooded. Right here in Whiteville downtown, it wasn’t that bad but when you get out to more the rural areas where the roads are a little more slimmer, little tight, that’s where more of the flooding was concentrated.”

One of the still underwater streets is Talbot Street, and the water there is getting dangerously close to the Family Dollar store.

Rostin Bromell is one of the store managers and said this isn’t the first time Talbot Street has flooded recently.

“Basically a replay of the last one, which I think was last year or the year before last and we lost a lot and the store was actually closed for a whole year,” Bromell said. “And we just now getting it back up and running and look. Same situation all over again so hopefully it don’t flood, but if it does, same situation, we got to start all over again.”

But it wasn’t all bad along Talbot Street as some residents, including Joseph Loria, decided to kayak up and down the street.

‘The storm wasn’t as bad as we thought it was going to be but we’re definitely gonna take advantage of the flooding and get some kayaking in,” Loria said.

Columbus County Sheriff Bill Rogers said people outside of Whiteville need to stay alert because more flooding is expected heading into the weekend.

“We’ve been out, like I said, in full force doing it,” Rogers said. “And the flooding, to me, the storm is over with and people want to get back out. But they are telling us the rivers aren’t going to crest until Saturday night or Sunday. So we’re looking at Boardman to probably get some flooding and Fair Bluff to get some flooding Sunday more than likely.”

Sheriff Rogers added that people must be careful and watch the roads as floodwaters can rise and fall over time.