Taking no chances, Cumberland County prepares for Hurricane Dorian
FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. (WTVD) -- Cumberland County residents are bracing for what could be another round of devastation. It's a race to gather resources as all of North Carolina is under a state of emergency as Hurricane Dorian approaches.
The I-95 rest stops are packed with drivers fleeing Dorian's wrath. Business owners in the Sandhills are preparing too.
"Little bit worried for sure. We just went through this process, which was devastating," said Guns Plus owner Chris Hatley. "It was kind of like a bomb went off inside. When I first walked in all our displays floated. All the guns wound up on the floor."
Cumberland County residents are taking matters into their own hands. Local grocery stores are selling out of bottled water and one gas station in Stedman along Highway 24 ran out of gas.
Cumberland County partially activated its Emergency Operation Center on Monday afternoon.
"Our communication with the National Weather Service says Wednesday night into Thursday will see tropical storm force gusts and 4 to 6 inches of rain," said Cumberland County emergency services director Gene Booth. "Go ahead and prepare now. It's better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it."
Officials warned that Hurricane Dorian could leave Cumberland County residents with widespread outages and road closures.
Eyewitness News spoke to Regina Evans. The Spring Lake Disaster Recovery Specialist is just weeks away from her own homecoming.
"I'm hoping by the end of October. I'll take anything sooner. But I'm hoping by the end of October we're home," said Evans.
But with Dorian on track to brush the Sandhills, Evans and her family fear he'll wash away months of progress.
"For the floors, I know they're supposed to come at the end of this week but that's when Dorian is supposed to be here. So now we're going to wait and see what Dorian does and we're going to accept it however it comes.," said Evans.
Hurricane Florence brought relentless rain to Spring Lake. The Little River sent floodwaters rushing inside their home.
"With Florence we had 5 foot, ten inches of water in the house and six foot three in the garage. We were a total loss. We lost everything," said Evans.
But there's one thing Evans didn't have before that she now has; flood insurance.
"I have flood insurance. And I will keep flood insurance. That's the one thing. Not that we didn't know about it's because we weren't in a flood zone," said Evans.
Methodist University has canceled classes for the week.
RELATED: Here's what you actually need to prepare for Hurricane Dorian
