One month after Florence, Robeson County still cleaning up the mess

LUMBERTON, N.C. (WTVD) —

It’s been more than a month since Hurricane Florence left much of Robeson County under water. Timmie Sampson has lived along Deep Branch Road all his life and the thought of demolishing his home hurts.

“I’ve lived here all my life, but the money it will cost to repair it just isn’t worth it,” Sampson said. “With Matthew, it came up 8 inches in the front room, but with Florence, it went throughout the entire house.”

Many schools within the Robeson County District sustained some damage from the storm. Schools shut down for nearly a month as officials worked to clean up the mess.

“We’ve had some structural issues. We’ve had impact to our roof and after that came environmental test and concerns with asbestos, mold and bed bugs,” said Robeson County School Superintendent Dr. Shanita Wooten.

More than 20,000 students who attend school within the district returned to classrooms Tuesday to find clean up efforts in full effect. School officials told ABC11 that there is still some uncertainty about whether students will make up the missed days.

“More then likely, we won’t make up a majority of those days. With winter weather coming and potential closings in the colder months, I don’t know if we will be able to make up time,” Wooten said.