Campers 'lose everything' after water rises at Busco
By Ethan Smith
Published in News on October 10, 2016 10:05 AM
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Tanya Brown sits in a camper owned by a friend late Sunday afternoon after she and her neighbors evacuated from a campground off of Bryan Boulevard.
Some lost a motorcycle.
Some left behind four-wheelers.
Some lost their entire home.
Several RVs and mobile homes from Busco Beach took up residence in the parking lot at the Food Lion in Mar-Mac Sunday after being forced to evacuate the park due to flooding from Hurricane Matthew.
"It was a little earlier than 12 p.m. when we were told to clear out by firefighters," said Tanya Brown. She left behind her park model home in Busco Beach.
"Our home was a park model that isn't mobile, you build into it. We've lost everything."
As many as 13 parking spaces were taken up by around half a dozen campers in the grocery store's parking lot at 118 Five Points Road.
The people living in them said water from the Neuse River began flooding their homes Saturday, often leaving them in knee-deep water. After moving, they woke up Sunday to find the water had crept even higher and they began leaving.
Many spent the entire day Saturday packing during the height of the hurricane, frantically grabbing their most valuable belongings and trying to plan an escape route.
When Sunday came, they all drove their mobile homes out of the flooded area with water coming up over their tires.
Brown said they chose the Food Lion parking lot as a group of neighbors trying to stick together during rough conditions, many of which said they had not seen the likes of since Hurricane Floyd in 1999.
David Anderson, one of the people who evacuated Busco Beach, said he was living with his mother off of Arrington Bridge Road when Floyd hit.
Anderson said he put a boat in the flood waters during Floyd to boat down to the Burger King at 2344 U.S. 117 South and check on the extent of the flooding.
He estimates the campers will have to stay out of Busco Beach for roughly two weeks with the Neuse River expected to crest around 26 feet -- it crested around 28 feet during Floyd.
"It ain't looking good," Anderson said.
Mark Tower, who owns an RV with power, hot water and other modern amenities, said he felt lucky they all had somewhere to go. He said he has lived at Busco Beach for roughly three months.
"We're lucky. We've heard people in their cars in the parking lot saying they're going to stay the night in their cars," Tower said. "I'm self-contained here. I've got everything I need as long as I have gas."
James Julius, who owns a mobile home that is pulled by a truck and has lived at Busco Beach for 15 years, said he had to leave behind a deep freezer, a scooter and an entire storage unit full of his belongings when everyone was told to evacuate Busco Beach.
"If it does flood like they're saying, I'll lose a lot of stuff," Julius said. "It caught us all off guard. After it (Hurricane Matthew) hit the Bahamas we didn't know the track it would take so we didn't worry about it."
Brown said she was only able to take what she could fit in her Chevrolet Blazer.
Everything else inside her home, as well as her home itself, is a total loss, she said.
"Whatever people couldn't fit into their motor homes or vehicles had to be left," Brown said. "I took only what I could fit in my car. We're going to lose it all."
Mark Peeples has lived at Busco Beach for three years. He and his wife, Kathy, who moved there this year to live with him, said they experienced hurricanes before when they lived in Florida, but never flooding of this scale.
"We started packing yesterday morning when a friend stopped by and said the river was going to flood. Suddenly we wound up with a lake outside our camper and it started rising and just kept coming," Mrs. Peeples said. "Next thing I know our pop-up went with the water and then the next thing I knew my car was damn near underwater."
Peeples was sitting out the camper, smoking a cigar and relaxing.
"It is what it is," he said.
Peeples said they'll try to ride out the flooding of Busco Beach in the parking lot of Food Lion until it subsides.
"If we can't go back we'll find somewhere else," Peeples said.
Mrs. Peeples said living in Florida and other areas, she experienced all kinds of weather, but never a flood.
"I've been through fires, earthquakes and hurricanes, but never a flood," Mrs. Peeples said. "It scared the pee-waddling-snot out of me. This is no joke."