ELIZABETHTOWN — Cape Fear River troubles in the Bladen County seat just won’t go away when it rains.
The town lost full use of the U.S. 701 bridge twin spans, Tory Hole Park and the boat launch operated by the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission following Hurricane Florence in September 2018. After last week’s rain, all have issues.
And a floating debris field has again come to the southbound span of the bridge.
This one isn’t nearly as large as the baseball field-sized mass that rested against the bridge the week after Florence struck. But the northbound span was already closed to traffic for repair work.
The Cape Fear River below the bridges is out of its banks. At the Lock and Dam No. 3 near Tar Heel, it was expected to crest sometime Monday or Tuesday.
Lock and Dam No. 2 at Brown’s Landing, which the town of Elizabethtown closed Wednesday as a precaution, is less than a mile from Tory Hole Park. It is considered minor flooding when it reaches 25 feet. A report on the National Weather Service Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service on Monday morning said it was at 30.8 feet; the report also said the latest observation of Feb. 3 was at 16.5 feet. A different reporting service also indicated no marks recorded in a week.
Nearby gauges have high marks. Upstream in Fayetteville the river is at flood stage.
The Flood Inundatation and Mapping Alert Network reports on Thursday at 12:45 p.m., the Cape Fear was at 36.45 feet at the Lock and Dam No. 3 near Tar Heel. Minor flood stage there is 42 feet. It hit flood stage of 50 feet on Friday night.
Bladen County had strong wind a lot of rain late in the week. It finally subsided on Friday, but not before leaving fields saturated and Emergency Management checking several places.
“We had several power poles that were damaged throughout the county and several residents without power but this was short lived,” said Nathan Dowless, the county’s director of Emergency Management. “Most poles were repaired and power restored late Friday afternoon. We did have half of a roof blow off of a mobile home on Irene Drive in Clarkton on Friday morning. There were people living in the mobile home but no one was injured.
“We had an awning blow off of a camper at White Lake campground. As far as I know this is all of the damage we had and no storm related injuries have been reported.”
A floating debris field has accumulated at the base of the U.S. 701 bridge across the Cape Fear River.
A floating debris field has accumulated at the base of the U.S. 701 bridge across the Cape Fear River.
A floating debris field has accumulated at the base of the U.S. 701 bridge across the Cape Fear River.