KELLY — For a week, Bladen County braced for Hurricane Florence.

One year ago on the morning of Sept. 14, she roared ashore as a Category 1 storm near Wrightsville Beach, about 60 miles away.

Arriving 23 months after Hurricane Matthew wrought devastation to southeastern North Carolina, Florence parked between Wilmington and Myrtle Beach for about three days. She picked up ocean moisture and dumped it into the coastal plains.

The Cape Fear, South and Black rivers all rose, with the 200 or so members of the Kelly community taking a significant brunt of the Cape Fear’s spill. Downtown Bladenboro, partly home to the Bryant Swamp Canal, flooded and has been reeling ever since.

Clarkton and White Oak were other areas particularly hard hit.

How bad was it?

Elizabethtown measured 35.93 inches of rain, and North Carolina was credited with receiving 8 trillion gallons of water.

There were no deaths in Bladen County.

The state and the National Hurricane Center have differing methodologies. The former attached 44 deaths to the storm in North Carolina, and estimated damage at $17 billion. The latter attached 15 deaths and put the damage figure at $24 billion.

Were people rescued?

Yes, by helicopter and high water vehicles in Bladen County.

Seventy swift water rescue teams were used in North Carolina, and 125 residents of Bladen County were evacuated by air. There were 350 outside responders deployed to Bladen County; this includes emergency medical services, firefighters, swift water rescue, rescue and National Guard.

Of Bladen County’s roughly 35,000 residents, there were 1,250 that evacuated. More than 3,000 applied for Federal Emergency Management Agency assistance.

More than 3,000 homes in Bladen County were damaged.

Did others help?

Did they ever.

Elizabethtown, Kentucky, adopted its North Carolina namesake and sent two trailers of assistance.

More than 75,500 volunteers performed more than 1.7 million hours of community service. Nearly three dozen long-term recovery groups have been involved.

Assistance is still ongoing.

When Hurricane Dorian was approaching last week, donations arrived before the storm. County personnel, when the damage here was not great, promptly redirected those supplies to areas in need.

Was Bladen the worst?

That’s probably a matter of opinion, and certainly Bladen County took a beating as bad as just about anywhere.

But Robeson County, where the Lumber River floods, was also particularly hard hit. There were counties along the coast that had severe flooding from rainfall.

Wilmington became an island, with Interstate 40 joining Interstate 95 in being shutdown in southeastern North Carolina.

What’s next?

Some have returned to their homes and businesses. Infrastructure is mostly repaired and back open.

Aid continues to come in, much of it held up by government red tape. In fact, financial assistance from the storm has become something of a political football with the governor touting how much has been secured and his office being questioned by some legislators on why more aid hasn’t reached the people more quickly.

We’ve recently seen action taken by government entities in relation to Matthew, from October 2016. There’ll be more with Florence over the next year-plus.

Contributed photo
The 14.3-mile earthen dike that protects Kelly has had 17 breaches patched. A more long-term fix is still being pursued.
https://www.bladenjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/web1_florence-2-091319-2.jpgContributed photo
The 14.3-mile earthen dike that protects Kelly has had 17 breaches patched. A more long-term fix is still being pursued.

Contributed photo
The dike that protected Kelly failed during Hurricane Florence, in part because water went over it and in part because of man-made breaches before the storm. Crews have patched 17 breaches, but a long-term fix is still being sought.
https://www.bladenjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/web1_florence-1-091319-2.jpgContributed photo
The dike that protected Kelly failed during Hurricane Florence, in part because water went over it and in part because of man-made breaches before the storm. Crews have patched 17 breaches, but a long-term fix is still being sought.

Alan Wooten

Bladen Journal

Alan Wooten can be reached at 910-247-9132 or awooten@bladenjournal.com. Twitter: @alanwooten19.