North Carolina
Six years after Hurricane Florence: Hundreds in southeastern North Carolina still need home repairs or rebuilds
WINNABOW, N.C. (WECT) – Just one day away from the sixth anniversary of Hurricane Florence, Crystle Silvey says horrible memories are flooding back.
“We lost everything we owned,” Silvey said. We didn’t we didn’t even have any clothes.”
Silvey’s home in Winnabow was one of several impacted by the intense flooding Florence brought to the area. After the water in her home got several feet high, she and her family were eventually rescued by the Coast Guard. Their nightmare was only just beginning, though.
“Everything was ruined and we had to throw everything we own on the side of the road on the side in front of the house,” Silvey said. “Pretty much only thing that was left to this house was the framing.”
That’s when they began their rebuilding process. Her husband and volunteers from a local Methodist church worked long hours to build back what they had lost. She believes the stress of this time could be what caused her husband’s early death just one year later.
“I do think that it put a lot of stress on him because you know, we just started all over,” Silvey said.
Now, several years after her home was completed, Silvey says she’s still dealing with some of the damage sustained in the storm.
“The floor started separating and there’s a mold in our bathrooms now, even though it has new sheetrock and my son’s closet has a leak inside of the the light fixture in there. So it’s really actually not safe right now.”
Silvey says many of her neighbors are dealing with the same thing.
However, the problem extends far beyond the Winnabow area. WARM NC CEO Andy Jones works daily with low-income families who need help repairing their homes after strong storm systems.
“Surprising as it is even six years later, we still get requests with Hurricane Florence damage,” Jones said.
He said since the hurricane hit in 2018, they’ve helped 350 homeowners with damage, but there are currently still 35 homeowners on their waitlist. Jones says all of those homeowners on the waitlist have reached out years after the storm, though. He says no one who reached out back in 2018 is still waiting for help from them.
“Even three years after the fact, we started getting kind of another wave of applications coming in and we’re like, ‘oh these are the ones that thought they were going to be able to do it all on their own,’” Jones said. “They’ve exhausted their resources. Now, they’re reaching out to us. The ones that are left are the ones that are really difficult cases and circumstances and big jobs that are still out there.
Another group, Rebuild NC which works on a statewide level, says they have a lot more cases to get through. The vast majority of their cases are in Southeastern North Carolina.
“We have just about 4,300 applicants from Matthew and Florence,” Rebuild NC’s director Laura Hogshead said. “And the reason that we keep those families together with Matthew and Florence is because so many of our Florence applicants were all so impacted by Matthew. We have gotten 2,623 of them into completed homes and the others are either with a contractor or inactive construction. Just a handful of our families are not yet with the general contractor.”
727 projects are in active construction with Rebuild NC as of September 2024.
Hogshead says the reason they are still actively working on projects related to Florence today is because of a delay in receiving funding.
“We did not get the money until 2020 even though the event was in 2018. So we are the folks that come in and help any of our families that could not be fully recovered with other Federal funding streams or state funding streams, and that’s why it takes so long because this is designed to be the last funding.”
She said they had a similar experience to WARM NC with several people reaching out for help years after the fact.
“We closed our applications last April,” Hogshead said. “So April 2023, but we did have applicants up until the last day. In fact, we had a lot of applicants on the last day. So you had folks who came in in June of 2020 and you had folks who came in in April of 2023. Families that we’re seeing now are mostly the families that either applied later or had significant challenges to their application that we’re helping them overcome.”
When it comes to the timeline, Jones said it’s normal that many people still need help six years later.
“The common estimate from FEMA is that it takes anywhere from five to eight years to recover from those kind of storms,” Jones said. “When we first heard that number immediately following hurricane Florence, I thought ‘no way, you know in five years surely we’re going to be able to really have this thing nipped in the bud’ and that’s not the case. And so we’re really, you know, just now kind of in that sweet spot six and a half years later.”
Hogshead said in some ways, it feels odd to acknowledge Hurricane Florence was already six years ago.
“It has been a very long time since Hurricane Florence in some ways and in some ways, it’s been a blink, but we work every day to make sure that folks can get home because if you are affected by a hurricane, it’s not over until you’re in your new home and that’s what we keep in mind every day,” Hogshead said.
While repairing or rebuilding a new home is important work and often necessary to protect a homeowner and their family’s health and safety, Silvey can’t help but miss her original family home.
“It’s kind of hard to tell a story when there’s one person missing,” Silvey said. “And that’s my husband. I really like the house that I had before. I like it better than the one that is here.”
Copyright 2024 WECT. All rights reserved.
North Carolina
19-year-old woman from North Carolina killed in Monterey hit-and-run
MONTEREY — A 19-year-old woman from North Carolina was killed in a hit-and-run collision on State Route 1 on Sunday, according to a news release from the California Highway Patrol.
The woman was identified as Maddie Elizabeth Fletcher, a 19-year-old from Shelby, North Carolina, according to the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office.
Around 9:47 a.m., the Monterey Communication Center received a report of a crash, authorities said. Fletcher was driving a black Honda Civic in the first lane northbound on SR-1 north of Munras Avenue. A vehicle had been driving in the second lane to the right side and behind Fletcher’s car when it veered into the first lane and hit the back of the Honda Civic, CHP said.
The Honda lost control and veered off the road, authorities said, where it then began to overturn before crashing into a tree. The car came to stop on its wheels facing south on a dirt embankment.
The car that hit Fletcher’s car, which was unidentified, fled the scene and continued driving northbound on SR-1, CHP said. The driver of the vehicle has not been identified. Authorities do not know whether drugs or alcohol played a role in the crash, authorities added.
Fletcher was pronounced deceased at the scene due to fatal injuries sustained in the crash, CHP said.
CHP is asking for the public’s assistance in identifying the driver of the unidentified vehicle. Anyone with information can contact the CHP Monterey Area Office at (831) 796-2160 24 hours per day or at (831) 770-8000 during business hours.
North Carolina
Police identify 7-year-old child killed in North Carolina weekend shooting
Police have released the identity of a child who was shot and killed in North Carolina on Sunday.
Quazariya G. Williams, 7, was pronounced dead at Scotland Memorial Hospital in Laurinburg, North Carolina, Maxton police said, according to local news station WBTW.
The man alleged to have shot the child is 31-year-old Dedric Page, who police said fired shots into a car with five other people inside around 2 p.m. Sunday in Maxton. The condition of the other five people in the car is currently unknown.
Maxton is a town located about 40 miles southwest of Fayetteville, North Carolina.
Page was arrested not long after the shooting. His charges include first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, discharging a firearm into an occupied vehicle, discharging a firearm in city limits and possession of a firearm by a felon.
On Tuesday afternoon, Page was denied bond for two of his charges. His next court appearance is scheduled for Nov. 26.
USA TODAY could not immediately contact Page’s lawyer for comment.
Victim remembered as cheerleader and ‘a sweet girl’
Maxton police Lieutenant Patrick Hunt told WBTW that Quazariya was remembered as a cheerleader and a “sweet girl who has a lot going on in her life.”
Police said the shooting happened following a dispute between Page and the girl’s mother.
On Sunday, Townsend Elementary School, where Quazariya was attending elementary school, posted a memorial for the 7-year-old.
“Q. Williams – Always on our minds and forever in our hearts – #Sleepwellourangel,” the Facebook post said.
This story has been updated to add new information.
Fernando Cervantes Jr. is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach him at fernando.cervantes@gannett.com and follow him on X @fern_cerv_.
North Carolina
Police: Father accused of killing daughter in North Carolina intended to shoot girl’s mother
MAXTON, N.C. (WBTV) – A father accused of killing his daughter had intended to kill the girl’s mother, according to reports.
Sister-station WMBF said the fatal shooting happened Sunday afternoon on East Graham Street – just off Business 74 – in Maxton, which is a small town in Robeson and Scotland counties.
WMBF said that the father, 31-year-old Dedric Dewayne Page, shot into a vehicle with people inside and hit his 7-year-old daughter. The station reported that Maxton Police said Page had been targeting the girl’s mother.
The girl was taken to the hospital after shooting and later died there. Police said her name was Quazariya Williams.
Including the girl and her mother, police said there were five people in the car when Page opened fire.
Robeson County Jail records show that Page is facing several charges, which are listed below:
- First-degree murder
- Attempted first-degree murder
- Discharging firearm into occupied property
- Possession of a firearm by a felon
- Discharging a firearm in city limits
Records show he was denied bond and remains in custody.
Man accused of shooting, killing elderly relatives at North Carolina home
Copyright 2024 WBTV. All rights reserved.
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