Flood waters strike Pulaski
‘In my 50 years, I’ve never seen it come over the walls’
, Staff Writer
03-15-2010
A number of merchants along Peak Creek were busy Saturday morning, removing water and damaged property from their businesses after nearly 3.5 inches of rain caused major flooding in downtown.“When I got downtown at 5 a.m. this morning, Peak Creek was over the walls. In my 50 years, I’ve never seen it come over the walls,” Pulaski Mayor Jeff Worrell said Saturday.
He added that water came over the wall into the municipal building parking lot.
It will be a while before a total damage estimate can be compiled, but Worrell said a number of businesses did have water damage.
As bad as the damage is, Worrell said it could have been much worse.
At 5 a.m. the creek wasn’t expected to reach its peak until noon Saturday, so he said he was expecting much more of the town to get flooded. But, luckily, the rain stopped and the waters started to subside.
Chip Hutchinson, Pulaski fire marshal, estimated Peak Creek overflowed the wall by about 12 to 18 inches behind Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office, sending water across East Main Street and into a number of businesses.
Sheriff Jim Davis said the sheriff’s office did not have to evacuate the building, but was preparing to evacuate if it had become necessary.
Newbern Fire Department assisted officers with sandbags to help keep the water out of the building, Davis said. Extra officers were called out to assist with citizens’ needs during the flooding.
Ferd Harvey had several people helping him to pump out the basement of a building he owns at the corner of East Main Street and Madison Avenue – across from the sheriff’s office. He said he had about three feet of water in the basement at its highest level.
Harvey indicated it’s been 20 years since flooding was that bad.
Across the street and adjacent to the sheriff’s office, Dr. John C. McElroy and Deborah Berg were using a shop vacuum to remove the water that came in the back door of his optometrist office. He said the water made its way all the way to the front door, soaking the carpet. He already had arranged for a carpet cleaning company to clean and dry the carpet.
McElroy’s office has been in that location since 1977, but he said he has never had it flood like that.
Out on Route 99, Wendy’s and Thompson Tire appeared to have taken the brunt of the flooding.
Tim Artrip, general manager of Wendy’s, said the restaurant had about eight to 10 inches of water inside it Saturday morning. He said a cleaning company already was on its way to work throughout the weekend in hopes the restaurant could reopen Monday.
Fran Byrd of Thompson Tire had all of the tires and other items in the customer service area sitting in the parking lot after the waters subsided. Despite being several feet above the road level, water still got into the business, but she was fortunate enough to have tile floors, rather than carpet.
Byrd expressed concern that the sewer system may have backed up into the floodwater, leaving a potential for health concerns.
However, Worrell said one of the first things town employees checked was the pump station at Dora Highway. “That was one of our first concerns,” he said, “but there was no overflow.”
Besides the downtown section of Route 99, a portion of the road between Bob White Boulevard and Dora Highway also had to be closed due to Peak Creek overflowing its banks.
Flooding in the area of Heritage Park and Cool Springs on Dora Highway is not uncommon, but there was more water than usual in that area Saturday. One resident said it wasn’t the highest he has seen it, though.
Several vehicles were damaged by the floodwater in that area.
A small blue rental car with North Carolina tags sat partially across the road, windows down and mud caked inside where it had been abandoned in the water. Two other vehicles that were almost completely submerged at the height of the flooding apparently washed away from somewhere upstream.
Hutchinson said no one was in the vehicles when they were swept away.
Residents of Pulaski Village Mobile Home Park off Brookmont Road were evacuated during the night and Hutchinson said some residents along Dora Highway were advised they should evacuate.
A shelter was set up at Pulaski Elementary School until 11 a.m. Saturday. He said three people from the mobile home park stayed at the shelter.
Flooding also was reported in the Little Creek Road, Cox’s Hollow and Alum Spring Road sections of the county.
Hutchinson said a helicopter was brought in to transport a medic to a woman off Little Creek Road who had broken a bone. The home was isolated by floodwater.
He was unaware of any other injuries and wasn’t certain that injury was weather related.
Worrell said he spoke with County Administrator Peter Huber Saturday morning about the need to thoroughly document all of the damage in the event federal funds can be obtained to cover the losses.
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