City residents begin process of recovery
By Rochelle Moore
Published in News on October 28, 2016 9:57 AM
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News-Argus/ROCHELLE MOORE
Alfred Williams looks over furniture and other household items stored under a carport until he can make repairs to his South John Street home.
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News-Argus/ROCHELLE MOORE
Pearly Brown's home on Brock Street is one of 400 properties served with a condemnation notice by the city of Goldsboro until repairs can be made. Her electricity was also disconnected Wednesday due to safety concerns.
Alfred Williams stood looking over his household belongings stored under a carport due to feet-deep floodwaters that damaged his South John Street home.
Williams, who is being helped by the North Carolina Baptist Men, is staying in a local hotel after his house was temporarily condemned by the city of Goldsboro and electricity disconnected.
"It's an emotional roller coaster," Williams said. "You can't live in your home, and you're running back and forth. It's not comfortable no way you look at it.
"It's a hard pill to swallow."
A North Carolina Baptist Men disaster recovery team helped remove damaged ductwork from the house and checked insulation within the walls Thursday. Williams, who's lived in the house 27 years, says he'll make repairs but has already applied for a Federal Emergency Management Agency buyout.
"This is the second time that it happened," Williams said, referring to flooding from Hurricane Floyd in 1999. "It's just a blessing that I'm retired, and I don't have to go to work.
"This takes a lot of time going through rooms, cleaning up and taking the carpet out."
Williams thinks he may have to borrow money to replace electrical wiring, which city inspectors found damaged from extensive flooding.
Residents along and near South John Street had electricity disconnected this week by Duke Progress Energy, in partnership with city, due to safety and liability concerns.
Inspectors and electricians checked nearly 400 temporarily condemned properties and found more than 300 with potential hazards after many with cloth-covered electrical wiring were covered under water. Electricity was cut off this week to 310 homes in southern and western areas of the city.
"The city says I've got bad wiring under the house, and it has to be replaced," Williams said. "Even if I fix it and move back in, (FEMA) could buy it out. I doubt they'll give me what I think the house is worth.
"It hurts. If I do move, I'll have to have people to do the work because I can't physically do stuff myself."
Williams applied for other FEMA assistance and plans to seek additional help to cover some of the cost of staying at a local hotel and making electrical and ductwork repairs.
Pearly Brown is also going back and forth to City Hall and her Brock Street home trying to figure out the next step after her electricity was disconnected Wednesday.
Her home was also condemned shortly after Hurricane Matthew in an area of the city that was closed off due to widespread flooding.
The flooding from Hurricane Matthew was more extensive than previous storms, she said.
"I went through all of them, but this is the worst," Brown said. "This is the worst I've had."
In 1999, homeowners only experienced a few inches of flood damage from Hurricane Floyd. Hurricane Matthew brought at least 2 feet of flood damage inside of homes and other properties.
Brown has been staying with a friend in another area of the city and was cutoff from returning home for a week.
"I was out seven days," she said. "It just ain't like a home staying with somebody. They make me comfortable, but it's not like my home."
Her single-story, brick house on Brock Street, where she's lived 38 years, sustained flood damage inside the den, which is on lower ground than the rest of the house. Floodwaters only reached her front doorstep and left little damage inside the main portion of her house.
She wants to return home but is unable to do so after her electricity was disconnected.
"(It's) wait, wait, wait," she said. "I can live, if I can get my lights in here."
She's trying to find an electrician to replace the electrical wiring. Brown has applied for FEMA assistance and has received $1,000 to pay for the loss of household items. She may lose food stored in a freezer due to the loss of electricity.
Armond Boutot, who lives around the corner on Ball Street, is at a loss after his home sustained 2 feet of flood damage.
"I'm just reeling like everyone else," he said. "I've got to find an electrician to take the wiring out. I'd rather be in Vietnam fighting a battle. This is the worst thing that's ever happened."
Boutot has cleaned out some of the damage and is frustrated enough that he's considering buying a 30-foot-long travel trailer. His house is paid off.
"I'm 67 years old," he said. "I'm not starting over."
Condemnation signs posted on residential and commercial properties in the southern and western parts of the city are temporary until repairs can be made and approved by city inspectors. The properties were condemned after water was found inside the structures and in crawl spaces.
Inspectors posted electricity disconnection signs on doors last week, notifying property owners that they can seek a no-cost permit, make repairs and have the condemnation signs removed and electricity turned back on.
By Thursday morning, electricity had been restored to 26 of the 310 homes that had electric service disconnected, said Allen Anderson, Goldsboro chief building inspector.
"There's some we've turned the curb on and trying to get the power turned back on," Anderson said. "We're moving in the right direction. Our biggest challenge is to get people to change out this cloth wiring that's bad.
"I felt my job as the chief inspector was to make sure I informed the public of the unsafe conditions that exist when you have a flood. We don't really want to pull power, but it was the right thing to do."