'This is all water': Durham residents begin cleaning up after 80 people rescued near Eno River

Durham County residents on Tuesday began cleaning up their flooded homes and apartments after Tropical Depression Chantal left behind deep water and damage.

Between Sunday and early Monday, first responders rescued dozens of residents from homes and apartments along Rippling Stream Road, where people's homes flooded to chest level and cars were floating. The areas of High Meadow Road, Omega Road, Felicia Street and Greymont Drive were also impacted.

The Durham Fire Department said approximately 80 people were rescued by boat and dozens more evacuated their homes on foot after relentless rain caused the Eno River to overflow.

On Tuesday, people were just beginning to assess the damage to their belongings.  Bruce Wilkerson began his day trying to press restart on a rough 24 hours.  

"There’s mud all in here," Wilkerson told WRAL News. "I can’t open the seat right now. But there’s mud all through it."

Wilkerson's moped was among several vehicles and items he found either floating or underwater during the peak of the storm. 

Debris is now scattered all over his home.

“I got downstairs and my feet were wet, and I was like, what? Because I’m still groggy, I’m still waking up," Wilkerson described. "I get out here and I’m like, wait this is all water. The first floor is what really took the brunt of everything.”

Wilkerson has started cleaning up his home, but he is concerned about more rain and a risk for flooding in the forecast this week.

“That does make me a little nervous ... now that we just got done with this and we’re about to get some more heavy rain," Wilkerson said. "I'm trying to stay positive.”  

On Tuesday, dozens of people remain out of their homes in Durham, some sheltering at a local church. Although the water has receded, the recovery process is far from over.

Many people who were rescued early Monday told WRAL News they were sleeping and had no idea the water was rising until the fire department came to their door.

"I saw water running from the floors in our house," Regina Mitchell, a resident who escaped the rising water in a rescue boat, said. "We thought it was something in the house that had broken, but then when we opened the door, we realized it was coming in from every door." 

The relentless rain from Chantal brought on historic flooding of the Eno River, which began to rise at 9:30 p.m. Sunday night. The river rose 22 feet in four hours to record flood levels, beating out river levels from Hurricane Fran in 1996, WRAL meteorologist Chris Michaels reports.

Durham resident Robert Dean said it was the worst flooding he's seen in his 40-plus years of living near Felecia Street. 

Some people were able to evacuate before the water rose too high, including Ahmad Hefez, his wife and four kids. 

"We woke up. We heard the sound of water all around us," Hefez said. "We suddenly opened the window, and we saw all the driveways flooded with water." 

"We didn't have any time to get our cars out from here, and nobody sent us any warning," Hefez said. "We did not see any warnings with our phones or anything. We just woke up and we tried to get out to save our kids." 

He and his family were able to evacuate and meet the rescue team at higher grounds around 1:30 a.m. They were able to find shelter with a neighbor, but Hefez was concerned about not getting a warning. 

"The bad thing, nobody warned us about this," he said. "We don't know about it. We just woke up, and thank God we had some time to just get out."

Division Chief Shawn Field wrote, "Two maydays were called during the event: One for an overturned boat and the other for a boat that was forced into some trees by the current and got trapped there. All were rescued and accounted for with no injuries."

On Monday afternoon, Durham Mayor Leonardo Williams applauded the strength of the city's residents.

"Durhamites are so resilient," Williams said. "They're in good spirits!"

Multiple agencies assisted the Durham Fire Department in their rescue efforts, including Durham County EMS, Durham police, Durham County Emergency Management and fire agencies from Lebanon, Bahama, Chapel Hill, Southern Orange, Northern Wake and Person County. 

The Red Cross has opened an emergency shelter in Durham for people displaced by flooding from the Eno River. The shelter is at Emmanuel AME Church at 2018 Riddle Road in Durham. To find the shelter nearest you, visit redcross.org/shelter, download the Red Cross Emergency App or call 1-800-RED-CROSS (800-733-2767).