On Wrightsville Beach, heartbreak, damaged roofs

HELPFUL LINKS: Videos, images by city

Get help, give help | Lives claimed by Florence

As the power starts to come back on in New Hanover County and property owners return to barrier-island beach communities to survey the aftermath of Hurricane Florence, it is apparent that the storm did not treat all properties equally. Some people have minor damage, other people have major damage.

Wrightsville Beach business owners saw significant flooding. Couple that with days without power and the cleanup, including mold eradication, becomes a much bigger job.

Kelly Baucom, owner of Jerry Allen's Sports Bar said, "We're just going to open all of the windows, start cleaning and go from there."

Down the street, at Jimmy's Bar, owner Jimmy Gilleece said, "We're just spraying it down with bleach and giving it time to do its thing."

Water got about knee-deep in the bottom section of hit bar.

At the Sweet N Savory Cafe, owner Rob Shapiro and a skeleton staff of workers were serving up hot food to grateful residents Tuesday evening.

"If we did not have all these wonderful people to come and help us you, I don't know what it would be like, because it's heartbreaking to see there's hardly a square inch of town that hasn't been touched," resident Stephanie Weddle said.

Most of the homes in Wrightsville saw minor damage – shingles blown off, damage to porches and decks and flooded garages.

But there were a handful that were much worse. And for those homeowners, like Kitty Brunjes, who has lived in her home on North Lumina Avenue for 50 years, there is small comfort that the rest of the island is OK.

Florence ripped the roof of her home, allowing it to rain inside for days.

"A little tornado ripped through here and took everything with it," she said. "It's ruined, totally soaked with water and sand."

Brunjes, who raised a family here and weathered every single hurricane, said her dismay goes beyond the damage to her home.

"It's so sad because my husband died this year. It would jut break his heart. I'm glad he's not seeing it," she said.

Darrell McCall also stayed on the island during Florence. He had water come through his ceiling in several places.

"I've always stayed," he said. "Most of them come on in and blow on through. This one did not."

Power outages remained a huge challenge and Drone 5 video showed a make-shift encampment, where 2,000 Duke Energy workers were based, eating what they could and sleeping in trailers between long shifts.

Fifty percent of New Hanover County remains in the dark and hotels and gas are scarce. A curfew also remains in place for the area.

"Each day, I think we'll see more stores open, we'll see a lot more things happen to get us back to normal, but certainly it's not going to happen overnight or in the next day or week. We're talking months and months and months," Weddle said.

Aid begins rolling into Wilmington

On the other side of the Intracoastal Waterway, the state Department of Transportation was able to clear debris from one route into Wilmington, allowing access for supply trucks to bring relief to the city.

"We're pushing supplies as hard as we possibly can," Transportation Secretary Jim Trogdon said at a news conference.

The trucks are loaded with food, water and other emergency supplies for stranded residents.

Twenty trucks full of Meals Ready to Eat (MREs), water and tarps had arrived from Fort Bragg and distribution began Tuesday at 10 a.m. at three sites:

• North POD – Formerly The Rock Church now being used as College Park Elementary School at 5301 Sidbury Road, Castle Hayne NC 28429
• Central POD – CFCC – Downtown Main Campus – 700 N. Front Street, Wilmington, NC 28401. Between Brunswick and Hanover Street.
• South POD – Veteran’s Park – 840 Halyburton Memorial Parkway, Wilmington, NC 28412

After Tuesday, those locations will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily.