10/10/16 — Businesses on Ash Street extensively damaged

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Businesses on Ash Street extensively damaged

By Brandon Davis
Published in News on October 10, 2016 11:38 AM

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News-Argus/SETH COMBS

The mud-covered floor of The Cloth Barn revealed a haunting, 17-year-old photo just two days after Hurricane Matthew left its mark. 

Elizabeth Bridgers, owner of the fabric store, found a 1999 picture of the red-colored Cloth Barn, which was taken shortly after the devastating impact of Hurricane Floyd. 

Mrs. Bridgers held the photo briefly before she threw it back in the mud. 

"Everything in here is damaged," she said, whose family has owned the store, located at 2315 E. Ash St. in the Barnyard Shopping Center, for 60 years. 

"It's fabric on top of fabric, and it's all damaged. Water has come up, and everything is ruined," she said. 

Hurricane Matthew hit Goldsboro Saturday, and water from its aftermath rose 6 feet high in the store, damaging rolls of fabric. Mrs. Bridgers said fabrics above the height of the water were not affected. 

She said while the store is being cleaned, a second location at the Sunrise Shopping Center, located at 1701 E. Ash St., has been opened to serve customers. 

Other stores at the Barnyard Shopping Center look to renovate and move on as well. 

Phil Eubanks, owner of the Awards Gallery, said his 10-year-old business will not be restored at the current location. 

"It's not going to be," he said. "Not here."

Five feet of water damaged trophies and plaques in the store, leaving sloppy, muddy puddles on the floor, which mirrored the mud at the Artistic Dance Academy. 

Owner of the dance studio Patricia Warren wiped away tears as she looked at the 4-foot-high water line on the windows. 

Mrs. Warren said clean up will last for one month, but she said parents and children  showed up on Sunday to help clean floors and tear down wet sheet rock.

"This is our home for community kids," she said. "They can come and worship while they dance."

She said her studio expanded to the next-door Crawford Building, and she said she celebrated the grand opening two weeks ago. 

But Mrs. Warren has faith in her business and her ministry. 

"This is just carpet, but it will not take the heart of the studio," she said. "It cannot take the heart of this ministry."