County officials: Worst yet to come
By News-Argus Staff
Published in News on October 8, 2016 3:20 PM
Full SizeBy ROCHELLE MOORE
and JOHN JOYCE
Hurricane Matthew is dumping enough rain on Wayne County Saturday to force the closure of dozens of streets and roads, make driving hazardous on many others and force the evacuation of residents living in one section of the city of Goldsboro.
The National Weather Service issued a flash flood warning for the county in the early afternoon and officials said the rain would continue to fall through the night, creating dangerous driving conditions even after the storm passed today.
High wind warnings were also issued for the area through today as the storm turned out to sea.
Mel Powers, director of the Wayne County Office of Emergency Services, said Saturday's heavy rains led to no forced evacuations in the county, but that some residents in hard hit areas were calling for help getting out of their homes and getting transportation to shelters.
But in the city, residents in some areas had to be evacuated.
Goldsboro Fire Chief Gary Whaley said the water levels in certain areas of the city have become too high for fire trucks to drive through.
Residents of Elmwood Terrace along Hinson Street and Hollowell Avenue were being urged by firefighters Saturday afternoon to leave their homes and seek a shelter as water levels in a manmade canal had flooded Hinson Street.
"People need to go home and stay home if at all possible, or seek shelter," Whaley said. "We're asking people to go to shelters on their own."
Powers said if residents live in an area not likely to flood, stay put. Otherwise, get to a shelter.
"If you are going to go, go now," he said about 2 p.m. "The storm hasn't really hit yet, the worst of it is supposed to come between 5 p.m. and about 6 p.m. tonight. If you need to get out, get out now."
About 20 volunteers staged inside the Tri-County Electric building in Dudley in an impromptu-command center, managing all American Red Cross shelter and relief operations east of Raleigh.
The Red Cross opened between 40 and 50 shelters in counties across the region. Officials said the shelters will house residents both during the storm and for the duration of the aftermath as flooding, downed trees and power outages are likely to drive people from their homes for days -- possibly weeks -- after Matthew passes.
Despite being downgraded to a Category 1 storm Saturday, the sheer amount of rain the tropical system was expected to dump on southeastern North Carolina might be similar to that of Hurricane Floyd, which devastated the region in 1999.
Brittany Jennings, a Red Cross volunteer, said she and others had come from all over the state to assist fellow North Carolinians.
"There are about 22 volunteers at each of these 40 or 50 shelters from other counties, some from the western part of the state. There are others there as well, law enforcement officers and from county and government agencies," she said.
Feeding and caring for the displaced will continue as long as there are people in need, she added.
"We are here until all needs are met and every last client is assisted," Jennings said.
The volunteers began arriving and setting up shelters and the Tri-County Electric command center Thursday. The command center staff was sheltering in place, monitoring conditions with lap tops, cell phones equipped with weather apps and special alert features and watching local and regional news reports on a large projector screen.
Bob Kornegay, member services manager for Tri-County Electric, said the power company's facility is uniquely equipped to handle the number of volunteers and all their equipment.
Its decision to house the Red Cross command center was a "no-brainer," he said.
"We have the facilities, we have the restrooms and showers, and we have the technology needed all right here," he said.
Tri-County has an automatic monitoring system that, when it is turned on as such is the case during Matthew, will alert the power provider of outages before customers ever pick-up the phone.
"As long as its on, and we're not always monitoring it but we are during emergencies," we're going to know as soon as a customer loses power," Kornegay said.
The National Weather Service said Saturday morning that sustained northeast winds of 20 to 30 miles per hour and wind gusts up to 45 mph were expected during the height of the storm in the Wayne County area.
High winds combined with persistent heavy rain and saturated ground started creating conditions leading to tree damage, power outages and road closings.
By about noon Saturday, creeks and canals were already starting to spill their banks and wash out roads along U.S. 13 South up through Dudley and the Grantham area.
"We've got several roads throughout the county that are impassible and covered by water," said Tracie Davis, Wayne County communications director. "I think the most important thing is for people to stay indoors and don't drive through the water. There's no way to know how deep it is."
The most powerful force of the storm swept through Wayne County between 4 and 11 p.m., with sustained winds estimated near 30 mph and wind gusts up to 55 mph.
Wayne County remained under a flash flood warning and high wind warning Saturday. Areas near the Neuse River also remained under a flood warning.
The high wind warning remains in effect until 6 p.m. today. The flood warning for areas near the Neuse River, in Wayne County, is in effect until further notice, the National Weather Service reported.
The Neuse River is expected to rise above the flood stage today and rise to 23.5 feet by Wednesday afternoon.
Close to 200 residents in the Seven Springs and Rosewood areas were without electricity by Saturday afternoon and another 960 Duke Progress Energy customers were without power throughout the county.
Three emergency shelters opened Saturday for residents experiencing flooding or other problems. The shelters are at Spring Creek High School, 4340 Indian Springs Road in Seven Springs; North Drive Elementary School at 1108 North Drive in Goldsboro; and Carver Elementary School at 400 Seven Springs Road in Mount Olive. By early Saturday afternoon, no one had taken advantage of the shelters, Davis said.
The Salvation Army was helping the Wayne County Chapter of the American Red Cross by delivering meals to the Red Cross shelters.
"We are partnering with Jimmy John's to pick up sandwiches and deliver 100 of them to each of the Red Cross shelters," said Lt. Phillip Stokes.
"Usually our role at the Salvation Army comes after the storm, when people have no power. We will deliver meals because we don't kneed power to run our mobile kitchen, just gas for the engine. We'll know more as the storm passes Sunday and Monday."
If the Salvation Army's mobile canteen is not needed locally, it could possibly be sent to coastal areas that are without power.
"But we're not using our mobile canteen right now," Stokes said. "Once the wind gusts up to 30 miles per hour, we're not allowed to take it out."
Check back regularly throughout the storm, and follow us on Twitter both @newsargus and @NewsArgusCops for the most up-to-date coverage.
-- Staff writer Ethan Smith contributed to this report.