ROCKINGHAM — Several businesses along a low-lying stretch of East Broad Avenue are getting a double-whammy following heavy rains from a slow-moving Hurricane Florence.
Not only do they have to deal with water seeping into their shops, but flooded roads are preventing them from getting inventory.
Nick Murphy and his crew at Nick’s 4×4 Performance Center started cleaning up on Monday, with flood waters reaching 10 to 24 inches — but they had to do it all over again Tuesday when the shop flooded a second time Monday night.
According to Murphy, the first wave of floodwaters got into the shop after he left at 7 p.m. Sunday.
“We came in here yesterday (Monday) morning, the water had went down and we cleaned up everything, pressure-washed the parking lot and we’re leaving last night at 7:30 and there’s a creek flowing into the highway out here. Two lanes filled up and it came back in the building,” he said.
Murphy said he “didn’t have the heart” to call neighboring business owner Robert Lee to tell him “it had flooded again.”
“I’ve never seen it come it twice like that,” he added. “(Hurricane) Matthew was a piece of cake.”
“It’s absolutely incredible,” Lee said, with a sump pump in the front of the store and a shop-vac in the back.
The gun shop owner was more prepared for this storm than he was in two years ago, making sure most of his inventory was at least three feet from the floor.
This time, he didn’t lose any merchandise. But during Matthew, Lee says he lost about $17,000 in ammunition alone.
“The last time, it sat in here for three or four days. There was no way for me to physically get the water out,” Lee said.
The retired Marine said people often ask: “Why don’t you have flood insurance?”
“You can’t afford it. You can’t afford governmental insurance,” he said. “It’s just ridiculously high. And then your insurance companies have clauses that (don’t cover flood damage.) So, what’s the use in having it?”
Lee said the damage from Florence for him was more emotional than physical.
Counting the double-shot from this storm as one event, Rockingham Guns and Ammo has been flooded 5 times in 15 years and twice in 23 months — “… but, I’m still here,” Lee said. “I’m not going anywhere.”
At least not yet.
Lee just renewed his federal firearms license and when it expires in three years, he plans to retire.
“It’s just senseless putting myself through this over and over and over,” he said. “But, it is what it is. I know there are people here in the county that have it a whole lot worse than I ever thought.”
In addition to the road holding water, beaver dams on the south prong of Falling Creek, which runs behind the businesses, is a huge contributing factor to the businesses’ flooding problems.
Murphy has been paying to have the beavers trapped and dam removed.
Richard Ratliff of Catch of the Day spent Tuesday mopping the floor and hauling off his ruined inventory of fish, shrimp and shellfish to the dump.
There were still several small puddles, but he said, “I’ll mop that tomorrow … I’m tired.”
Ratliff said there were several inches of water on the floor when he came in and his debit, credit and EBT card machines were damaged.
“I’ve been working hard, man,” he said, pointing out the areas that still needed cleaning.
Murphy said Florence was a little worse than 2016’s Hurricane Matthew, causing some structural damage.
“The roof’s messed up a little bit, just from the wind … it ripped some shingles off,” he said. “Our bathroom back there looks like a crime scene” because the toilet was ripped up and turned over, reminding him of a scene in the movie “Saw.”
According to the National Weather Service, Florence dumped more than 8 trillion gallons of rain in North Carolina alone.
“That was probably more rainfall at one time than any time in my life,” Murphy said.
Derby Fields, owner of Derby’s Tailory, had sandbags stacked in front of her shop’s door. The basement flooded again and she had to move what was down there to her showroom, but said she felt grateful and blessed water never entered her store.
The flooding received by other parts of the state is also affecting some of the businesses’ bottom lines.
Ratliff gets a lot of his inventory from the Wilmington area, with shipments coming in three times per week.
“I called the guy and he said they’re flooded,” Ratliff said, adding he hopes he can start restocking seafood by next week.
Murphy said that Fayetteville’s flooding is preventing him from getting parts.
“All of our FedEx shipments, they’re a bust now,” he said. “So we won’t be able to get anything this week. He estimates that he will lose $10,000 to $20,000 in just a day or two.
“It’s going to be a bad week for us, for sure.”
