Craven County hurricane victim: 'I'm outta here'
Once Hurricane Irene moved past his house and the flood waters had receded, north Harlowe resident Bruce St. Antoine said he knew what he had to do - get out.
Posted — Updated"I told my wife, I said, 'Once we get this place fixed, I'm outta here,'" Bruce St. Antoine said Tuesday. "I've had enough of it."
Antoine's house on the Neuse River in Craven County has endured flooding before. He moved to the area from Roxboro five years ago and said he knows it's time to move again.
Home video shows waves washing over his pier and sweeping into his yard. His house rests on stilts, but the water made it's way up, slapping at the top of the window. None of the Neuse flowed across his carpet, but it came close.
The water jack-hammered through the concrete boulders of a sea wall near his house.
"It just picked them up and tossed them like they weren’t nothing," Antoine said.
The storm surge receded quickly, but it was long enough for Antoine to know what he needed to do.
"Anybody with good sense, they wouldn’t stay here. I can tell you that right now," he said.
Craven County officials were still doing an assessment of flood damage in the area Tuesday. Twenty to 30 homes in the area were damaged in the storm.
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