WILMINGTON, N.C. — Days after Hurricane Florence is long gone from the Carolina’s, the impact of the storm continues to be felt. The Cape Fear River has created widespread flooding inland from the coast, particularly in downtown Wilmington.
“The Cape Fear River is affected by the tide from the ocean and that runs about 30 miles upstream,” said Blaine Daniel, a Buckhannon, West Virginia native who now lives in Wilmington. “We have water flowing down trying to make it to the coast, but when you top a swollen river with a high tide and it just magnifies things even more.”
Damage across the region is widespread among those who live near the waterway. Daniel said he’s fortunate his house is not among those under water, but others aren’t nearly as fortunate.
“A couple of people I work with lost everything they had and lost their home,’ he said. “People are trying to make do and answer that inevitable question of ‘What’s next?'”
According to Daniel many are still living in shelters and stockpiles of building materials are starting to be crated to when the water recedes there will be plenty of materials on hand to begin the rebuilding process. Until then, he said there is considerable human suffering in the region.
“People’s lives are out at the street,” said Daniel of the growing debris piles. “They’ve had to take things out of their home that were destroyed.”