Tar River not expected to cause major flooding issues in Rocky Mount

ROCKY MOUNT, N.C. (WTVD) -- Residents and officials with the City of Rocky Mount are closely monitoring the Tar River levels throughout the day.

The good news, city officials only expect the river to reach minor flood levels after Debby. They believe the river will crest at 22 feet.

"It won't get any worse. I believe we have been fortunate on this go around. We have had a significant amount of rainfall. Where the river is right now is pretty much as high as it's going to be based on the national weather forecast prediction model that we look at, and we expect that in the next day or so, we will start to see the river recede," Brenton Bent, City of Rocky Mount Director of Water Resources, said.

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Benton said the city has seen much worse flooding over the years.

"This is nothing compared to 2016 when we had Matthew, when the river crested at 27 feet and of course Hurricane Floyd back in 1999 where that was, had crested at 31.6 feet. So I believe that we're fortunate," he said.

Sunset Park is right next to the Tar River, and the waters have flooded the park, but Benton said that area is the buffer area and is expected to flood during heavy rains.

"This is one of the low lying areas along the river, and going back to the days of Floyd, there were houses that were removed from this area because they were in the flood zone, at least in the 100-year flood zone. So those areas are no longer occupied. The city had been proactive in making sure that the areas were uninhabited," Benton said.

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Residents who live around Sunset Park checked out the river levels throughout the day, and are relieved Debby did not bring anything worse and just flooded the park.

"We had a feeling it'll be pretty intense today, and as you can see, you can't get through here today," Will West said.

City officials said during Debby they did have residents without power and several streets were closed due to high waters, but on Friday power was restored to everyone and the streets were reopened.