ROCKY MOUNT, N.C. (WNCN) – Multiple road closures continue to linger in Rocky Mount after days of flooding. Neighbors living near Sunset Park pointed to the raging Tar River and surrounding areas that have been sitting in feet of water.
“It was surprising, especially for it to come up this much,” said Johnathan Roblero. His home off of River Drive now sits on the water’s edge. “It’s alarming, too, because I’m kind of scared it might actually flood in the house.”
Roblero wasn’t the only one in the area to notice the flooding outside his door. Chris Wall, who visits the park often, said he watched the river rise quickly over the last few days. He said, “That road behind you was drivable a couple days ago. Now, I wouldn’t take a jeep through it.”
Wall continued, “I’ve seen a lot of people’s houses been flooding out, hopefully it’s going to be getting better in a couple days because the water should start to recede a little bit, but right now it’s not slowing down.”
Brenton Bent, the director of water resources for the city of Rocky Mount, said the community received a significant amount of rainfall from Tropical Storm Debby. He said they’re now seeing additional water that’s come from areas that were impacted to the west of them.
“We know businesses are impacted and there’s going to be a loss of revenue for them. We also feel their pain. We hope with the receding of the water, they’ll be able to start doing whatever immediate work that they need to do and whatever assistance the city can do from the city’s end,” said Bent.
By Monday afternoon, Bent said the Tar River near Highway 97 was cresting at 24.37 feet. He said it’s just below the major flooding threshold.
Based on the city’s research and information provided by the National Weather Service, Bent said they’ve started to see river levels drop in areas including Louisburg and Spring Hope. He continued, “The National Weather Service is predicting that by 8 a.m. on Wednesday morning, the river should be back to 19.4 feet, and by Thursday around 2 o’clock, the river should be able to recede to its banks.”
Bent said although flooding has impacted their community, levels are still far from what families experienced back in 1999 during Hurricane Floyd. He said the Tar River crested to 31.6 feet in Rocky Mount and had a significant impact in the area.
Once water begins to recede, city officials said crews will be able to go in and assess damage. They said help will be ready to make repairs to roads and other infrastructure that might’ve been impacted. Bent said, fortunately, the city’s water production was not affected.
For Terry Dean Sherrod Sr., who looked over the flooding in his neighborhood, he said, “I was born and raised over in Sunset Park and now that’s mostly under water again.” He shook his head in disbelief and added, “It’s weather, there’s nothing you can do about it, it’s life. You have to get keep trucking more or less.”