“You start getting the feeling that you’re beginning to be surrounded."
By Mark Darrough - September 20, 2018
PENDER COUNTY — As the sun began to set Wednesday in the rural river town of Currie, North Carolina, a Charlotte Fire Department crew was staked out at the flood line on Borough Spur Road, near the Moores Creek confluence with the Black River.
Fireman Drew Lazarus warned that residents in the nearby flooded Borough neighborhood were armed; they had been firing warning shots into the air throughout the day, wary of passing boats creating wakes along their homes.
Down the flooded Alexis Hales Road, running parallel with Moores Creek a few hundred feet to the west, Mike Hicks was starting his generator on his front porch, surrounded by water.
“I don’t think nobody’s had no experience this bad,” Hicks said. “You pray every day it’s gonna stop. It just keeps on comin’. It rose over a foot last night. It’s probably two foot higher right now than (Hurricane) Matthew ever was … They kept sayin’ it was gonna be worse, but there was no indication of it. But it sure is a whole lot worse.”
Hicks said the neighborhood wasn’t in a flood zone, and the residents here hadn’t expected the floods to reach this level. As the water continued to slowly rise throughout the day, he said he was unsure of his plan.
”I won’t leave before it gets in the house,” Hicks said. “But the way it’s comin’, it might be there in the morning. They said it crested at 2 o’clock this morning, but it hasn’t slowed down today.”
Hicks’ neighbor Alan Creech was feeding his chickens at the edge of the waterline.
“Each day the water creeps up. I didn’t think it was going to be as much water as this. In hindsight, if you’d known, maybe you’d have done some things differently,” Creech said.
A flooded neighborhood on Alexis Hales Road near the Black River in Currie, North Carolina, Wednesday, September 19, 2018. (Port City Daily photo/Mark Darrough)
Creech said that the nights were long and hot, sleep was hard to come by, and the shock of the water level in the morning was difficult to bear. On Tuesday night, water covered a third of his yard, he said. By Wednesday morning, it had reached his porch.
He said that he is now rationing his gas supply for the generator, which burns about a gallon an hour, in an effort to save four freezers full of food.
“You start getting the feeling that you’re beginning to be surrounded,” Creech said.
He pointed to his river boat — the backup plan in case the flood waters come into his house.
“For us, it’s hard to leave home, and you just try to hold on until we definitely have to go. If we absolutely have to go, that’s when you have the party boat out of here,” Creech said.
As the fire crew boated back to their station on Borough Spur Road to pack up for the night, a helicopter passed over the Black River and circled low over the flooded neighborhood, looking for any residents in distress.
Flooding on Borough Spur Road near the Black River in Currie, North Carolina, Wednesday, September 19, 2018. (Port City Daily photo/Mark Darrough)
Flooding at the intersection of Borough Spur and Alexis Hales roads near the Black River in Currie, North Carolina, Wednesday, September 19, 2018. (Port City Daily photo/Mark Darrough)
A flooded neighborhood on Alexis Hales Road near the Black River in Currie, North Carolina, Wednesday, September 19, 2018. (Port City Daily photo/Mark Darrough)
A flooded neighborhood on Alexis Hales Road near the Black River in Currie, North Carolina, Wednesday, September 19, 2018. (Port City Daily photo/Mark Darrough)
Alan Creech feeds his chickens in a flooded neighborhood on Alexis Hales Road near the Black River in Currie, North Carolina, Wednesday, September 19, 2018. "You start getting the feeling that you’re beginning to be surrounded.” (Port City Daily photo/Mark Darrough)
Alan Creech at his neighbor's house in a flooded neighborhood on Alexis Hales Road near the Black River in Currie, North Carolina, Wednesday, September 19, 2018. "Each day the water creeps up. I didn’t think it was going to get as much water as this.” (Port City Daily photo/Mark Darrough)
A flooded neighborhood on Alexis Hales Road near the Black River in Currie, North Carolina, Wednesday, September 19, 2018. (Port City Daily photo/Mark Darrough)
A flooded neighborhood on Alexis Hales Road near the Black River in Currie, North Carolina, Wednesday, September 19, 2018. (Port City Daily photo/Mark Darrough)
Cathy Peterson stands on the back porch of her home on Moores Creek, which flows into the Black River, in Currie, North Carolina (Wednesday, September 19, 2018). "I've never seen anything like this in 25 years living here," Peterson said. (Port City Daily photo/Mark Darrough)
A flooded neighborhood on Alexis Hales Road near the Black River in Currie, North Carolina, Wednesday, September 19, 2018. (Port City Daily photo/Mark Darrough)
A bird feeder in a flooded neighborhood on Alexis Hales Road near the Black River in Currie, North Carolina, Wednesday, September 19, 2018. (Port City Daily photo/Mark Darrough)
A flooded neighborhood on Alexis Hales Road near the Black River in Currie, North Carolina, Wednesday, September 19, 2018. (Port City Daily photo/Mark Darrough)
A flooded neighborhood on Alexis Hales Road near the Black River in Currie, North Carolina, Wednesday, September 19, 2018. (Port City Daily photo/Mark Darrough)
A house along Moores Creek, which flows into the Black River, in Currie, North Carolina, Wednesday, September 19, 2018. (Port City Daily photo/Mark Darrough)
The rising Moores Creek, which flows into the Black River, in Currie, North Carolina on Wednesday, evening, September 19, 2018. (Port City Daily photo | Mark Darrough)
A flooded house on Moores Creek, which flows into the Black River, in Currie, North Carolina on Wednesday, evening, September 19, 2018. (Port City Daily photo/Mark Darrough)
A flooded house on Moores Creek, which flows into the Black River, in Currie, North Carolina on Wednesday, evening, September 19, 2018. (Port City Daily photo | Mark Darrough)
A helicopter flies over Moores Creek, which flows into the Black River, in Currie, North Carolina on Wednesday evening, September 19, 2018. (Port City Daily photo/Mark Darrough)
[Read the story as published here.]