Flood evacuees navigate around closed roads to go home

RALEIGH (WTVD) -- Road closures and detours after hurricane Matthew are big inconvenience for many, but it's a very different story for those who've evacuated and are now trying to get back home.

While the section of I-40 westbound that closed after the storm reopened Friday, I-95 South in Cumberland and Robeson counties between exits 56 and 13 is not expected to reopen until the middle of next week. I-95 South in Johnston County from exits 81 to 77 is expected to reopen Monday.

I-95 North from exit 13 to 22 in Robeson County could take until November.

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Amy Laura Hall said she has to figure out how she's going to get to work, but doesn't mind because she feels lucky.

"It feels almost wrong that I'm like trying figure out some way to avoid a whole section where a lot of people are suffering but that's what a lot of people on the highway are doing today," Hall said.

Dietze Johnson is one of those people.

"We're right, maybe a half a mile, from the Cape Fear River, so it was right up to like 16 feet there. It kept coming up," Johnson said. "So we had to wade through water that was up to our waist just to get out."

She evacuated and now she's trying to get back home to assess the damage, assuming she can even get there.

"We live off of 53 and at this point it's shut down still. We have the state troopers blocking off the road to get to our house, but we are gonna see if we can get down far enough that they'll let us get there with a boat," she said.

When asked how she could remain so calm, given that she might not be returning home to much, Johnson said she's trying to stay positive and pray.