ROCKINGHAM — Richmond County was spared the severity of damage from Hurricane Florence seen by surrounding counties and Emergency Services Director Donna Wright contributes that to prayer and early planning.
“We were very fortunate,” she said early Tuesday afternoon on the flooded banks of Hitchcock Creek in Cordova. “That storm literally split and went around east and west of Richmond County.
“If you’ll look at the radar, the thinner bands actually are what were over us,” she continued. “The harder, more dangerous (weather) came to Scotland and to Anson and went up to Moore … 20 miles east or west could have been us, it was supposed to have been us … it was prayer (that kept the county out of danger).”
Wright said first responders were “fully prepared” heading into the storm with plans in place for dam failures, hazardous material spills and evacuations.
“We had all of that perfectly laid out with resources assigned to the tasks if something were to happen,” she said.
Wright added that the decision to release water from the Ledbetter dam ahead of the hurricane kept things from being worse.
The storm damage, which mostly included trees falling on power lines — some on homes and vehicles — was spread evenly throughout the county, according to Wright.
“I don’t think one area was more concentrated than the other,” she said.
Even areas that usually flood, Wright said, weren’t as bad as they have been in the past.
“Richmond County was in a drought six weeks before this storm hit, we had a little bit of rain before, and I think that set us up to be able to absorb all that rain instead of it running off,” she said.
Her office is still surveying and does not yet have a property damage estimate. Wright added that Richmond is not on the declared disaster list because there’s a threshold amount to meet for damages
“Scotland, Moore County and others that are on the list, you can look and see the substantial damage, there’s no doubt,” she said. “Richmond County is going to have to look a little bit … it’s going to be a couple of weeks before we can get those numbers tallied to get that declaration. We’ll be working with the state for that.”
Anyone with questions about disaster benefits is encouraged to call the Department of Social Services at 910-997-8400.
WASHED-OUT ROADS
Four roads in the county — Osborne Road, Nicholson Road, Holly Grove Church Road and Derby Road (at Thunder Road) — are washed out and some still remain under water, like Blewett Falls Road. Aside from the washout, there was also a waterline break on Nicholson Road.
While Richmond County only had a few secondary dam failures, like the Everett’s Mill dam near the South Carolina state line, Wright said neighboring Scotland County is still dealing with the fallout from dam failures. She added that there a few there that could still potentially give way.
Wright said the major dams in Richmond County seem fine — even the one on Hitchcock Creek at the Cascades plant, which has a small leak.
A post circulated Facebook Monday night claiming that the Blewett Falls dam on the Pee Dee River had breached and county officials were in a frenzy to quickly dismiss that rumour.
According to Anson County Emergency Services Director Rodney Diggs, an unregulated dam, south of Lilesville at BV Hedrick, breached before nightfall.
#CAROLINASTRONG
All of Richmond County Emergency Services’ staffers stayed at the office for the duration as Florence battered the Carolinas with strong winds and heavy rains, with some going home to grab a few things but coming right back.
“We’ve been hunkered down in the new building since Thursday night,” Wright said. “I went home for the first time yesterday.”
The staff also helped out other counties, causing the call volume to increase by 200 percent.
“We’re in the middle of this hurricane and in one hour we get a call from the state (Emergency Operations Command), Moore County had some 911 calls that were coming to us because they had some failures,” Wright recalled. “We got a call saying they wanted to transfer Robeson County 911 calls to us.”
Wright said Bob Smith, deputy director, and Hamlet firefighter Franklin McKay programmed the radios to take those calls for dispatch.
“And then Scotland County had some problems with the radio system and we ready to start paging their radio calls,” she said.
The following night, Wright said she got a wakeup call at 1 a.m. to take 911 calls from Columbus County.
The county also sent two telecommunicators, Adam McInnis and Luke Bullard to Carteret County to relieve staff there to go check on their own homes.
But Richmond helped out more than by just taking calls.
Firefighters from Hamlet and Cordova and a team from New Hampshire went to Scotland County to help evacuate residents in Laurinburg, according to Hamlet Fire Chief Calvin White.
Jeremy Chance, Cordova’s deputy chief, said they rescued more than 30 people from a neighborhood and an apartment complex. They also checked several submerged vehicles but found no one inside.
“When we heard they were having issues and I told them what resources we had that were not being used, we told them we’d send them over there,” Wright said. “We’ve done what we can to support the state as a whole.”
