Topsail Beach residents begin picking up the pieces after Florence

Returning to southeastern North Carolina is difficult enough with many roadways still under water, but not knowing if the homes they left are habitable can double the frustration and unease for many residents after Hurricane Florence.

Coming over the bridge into Topsail Beach, it doesn’t look like the area was hit too hard, but when you go on the beach, it’s clear to see what the storm surge, wind and rain did to homes.

Erick Sanders owns three properties on the island and all of them were significantly damaged.

“Structural damage. This one here is just from the dune being washed out,” Sanders said of one of the homes. “So structural wise, with the stairs and decks, would be this one. For interior damage, we’ve got two of them over here that had the roofs blown off and then we had rain which got down inside.”

Florence reached Category 4 status before it made landfall in North Carolina as a Category 1. 

Once he heard it was a Category 4, Sanders left the state and prepared for the worst.

“I figured with a Category 4 striking, there would no longer be any structure standing here,” he said.

Even though we weren’t hit with a Category 4 storm, Florence did major damage to the area and its effects are still being felt with major flooding in many areas.

In Topsail, notices are up on the front doors of homes advising people not to go inside. 

It will cost a lot of money for Sanders to repair his properties, but he said he is thankful he doesn’t have it as bad as others who lost everything.

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