Businesses at Eastgate Crossing in Chapel Hill are boarded up Tuesday morning and muddy cars are abandoned in the parking lot 24 hours after severe flooding hit the area.
Flooding from Tropical Storm Chantel left a mess at the shopping center on East Franklin Street late Sunday into Monday, creating extensive damage to businesses.
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A photo from WRAL News crews at the scene showed the front door of a Talbot's store ripped off its hinges and parts of the building torn off. The inside of Great Outdoor Provision Co. was trashed, and furniture littered the parking lot around the nearby Shake Shack restaurant.
Sky 5 flew overhead on Monday, showing the parking lot covered in mud and cars strewn across the lot, many pushed into each other from the floodwaters. Crews on Tuesday morning worked to clear mud from the parking lot, but there was a lot of dirt left behind.
Among the impacted businesses was Yarns, Etc. Store owner Mary Stowe said the financial impact is devastating.
"I had spent every dime I had on more merchandise, getting ready," Stowe said. "We’re a seasonal business. My season starts and gets really busy in the fall."
Stowe said the building sustained structural and water damage. According to the town of Chapel Hill, damage assessments are still in progress.
The extreme floodwaters in Chapel Hill caught many off guard Sunday night, including two women who say they found themselves in waist-deep water after leaving a movie. The two women said their cars appeared to be totaled from the flooding.
Cleanup efforts will be extensive in the days to come.
Dozens of rescues in Chapel Hill
More than 60 people had to be rescued in Orange County, and dozens of people across Chapel Hill were forced from their homes due to the flooding. Roughly 8,000 calls were made to 911 during and after the storm.
A spokesperson from the town of Chapel Hill said dozens were forced out of homes and apartments in the areas of Camelot Village (130 S. Estes Drive), Airport Gardens (821 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.), 900 Willow Drive, Bolinwood Condominiums (500 Umstead Drive) and the Booker Creek Townhouse Apartments (2525 Booker Creek Road).
Some areas saw up to 10 inches of rain in less than 12 hours, according to WRAL meteorologist Chris Michaels, and the Haw River reaches its second-highest level on record in Chatham and Alamance counties. The flooding record was Hurricane Fran in 1996.
If you have any photos of storm damage, and it's safe to do so, please send them to WRAL ReportIt.
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