Parts of N.C. could remain flooded for days

October 05, 2010|Associated Press

WINDSOR, N.C. — Windsor is expected to remain underwater for several more days after drenching storms moved up the East Coast last week, officials said yesterday.

The state Emergency Response Team said much of the flooded town in northeast North Carolina remained waterlogged. The downtown was evacuated along with more than 40 residents from a nursing home.

With more than 200 businesses and homes damaged, Windsor, a town of about 2,300 on the banks of the Cashie River, is one of the places hit hardest in eastern North Carolina by torrential rains and floods from a storm that moved up the East Coast last week.

The scenes of people surveying damage, cleaning up, and gingerly moving along still-flooded roads were repeated throughout the region.

Randy Russell stared at a knee-deep pool of water surrounding his restaurant, Bunn’s Barbecue, as water seeped over makeshift sand barriers.

“I’d hate to leave it,’’ he said of the restaurant that dates back to 1938 and now must be rebuilt. “But it tries your spirit when this happens.’’

Julia Jarema, a state spokeswoman, said officials expect several rivers to remain at flood stage this week.