Flooding from record rainfall, storm surge legacy of Hurricane Florence

Oct. 13--Before Hurricane Florence, the flood plane near the Kellum family had never flooded.

Richard Harkins, who purposely built his house off Willie Kellum Road to avoid flooding, said the area hadn't flooded in 200 years. His brother-in-law, Leonard Kellum, witnessed the historic flooding as Florence dumped almost 30 inches of rain in Jacksonville and creeks overflowed.

Kellum and 12 others from the family were among those rescued early morning Sept. 14 as waters rose waist high and intruded their homes.

"We're lucky we all got out," Kellum said.

The flooding from storm surge and record-breaking rainfall are how Hurricane Florence will be remembered.

"The historic legacy of Hurricane Florence will be record breaking storm surge of 9 to 13 feet and devastating rainfall of 20 to 30 inches, which produced catastrophic and life-threatening flooding," the National Weather Service office in Newport wrote in a summary of the storm for its coverage area. "The hardest hit areas included New Bern, Newport, Belhaven, Oriental, North Topsail Beach and Jacksonville, along with Downeast Carteret County, or basically south of a line from Kinston to Cedar Island."

That flooding and the wind and water damage that Florence left behind, still obvious from the tarps covering rooftops and the piles of debris with contents of homes, caused millions of dollars of damage.

Florence: By the numbers

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According to Onslow County Board of Commissioners Chairman Jack Bright, the estimated total loss of property across the county, including all municipalities and unincorporated areas, is $515,909,494. Of that amount, an estimated $463 million worth of damage was done to residential properties.

The Kellum home was one of the 10,720 residential properties damaged in Onslow County.

After leaving their property, the Kellums stayed with friends or in hotels until they could return -- which was almost two weeks after Florence hit. Once getting back, Kellum said he along with neighbors and other family members went to work -- clearing out furniture and carpet damaged by water.

A month after the hurricane, neighbors are still helping Kellum with his house, adding to a large pile of unsalvageable items in his yard. He said he's stopped counting the number of days they've been working as he's hoping to rid his house of mold.

The debris from Hurricane Florence can be found across the area as families continue to clean up and make repairs. But the amount is slowly declining.

As of Oct. 9, the contractor for debris removal for Onslow County had collected 70,859 cubic yards of vegetative debris. Within the City of Jacksonville, more than 222,000 cubic yards of vegetative debris and nearly 12,000 tons on construction and demolition debris has been collected.

The piles of debris are a sign of the personal loss families have dealt with due to the hurricane.

Unfortunately, Kellum said, his family is no stranger to tragedies.

"Last September ... we lost our daughter, and this September we lost the house," Kellum said.

But, he kept a sense of humor, along with other members of the family -- even as the Coast Guard brought them to the hospital and then the county shelter as his house flooded.

He talked about being put on a helicopter and given a paper gown to serve as a change of clothes.

"The paper clothes felt good; I just hoped it wouldn't rain anymore so I wouldn't end up naked," Kellum chuckled.

His sister and Harkin's wife, Kay, said she hardly got any sleep in the shelter once rescued, but remembers how good the food tasted. She said she and Harkins made their escape when a renter called her about flooding at his property and she invited him and his four daughters in. But by the time he got to her house, they were also taking on water from the door.

"It came in like a river," Kay Harkins said. "I just never want to see it again."

With her house flooding, she said she and her guests decided to get to the Kellum's house, which was further away from the water. They walked through water waist-deep down the flooded road.

"You couldn't see where you were going," Kay Harkins said. "I didn't know if I was on the road or in a ditch."

When the Kellum's house also started flooding, the family made their way next door and waited on the porch once they had been spotted by a Coast Guard helicopter. Overall, Kellum said it took over an hour to get everyone out.

It was getting back, Richard Harkins said, that took much longer. And when they did return, he said he found his hobby car, a 1935 Ford, drowned by water. While insurance coverage paid out in full for the car, Kay Harkins said they have not seen help from their homeowner's insurance just yet.

Currently, she said they are back home, but living on a "cement floor" and waiting for flooring and sheet rock to be removed. Still, the couple believes things could have come to worse.

"I'd be content if I didn't see a penny from anyone, but I'm really sorry for those people who lost everything," Richard Harkins said.

And there has been much loss.

According to FEMA spokeswoman Lynn Kimbrough, there have been 1,600 visits (by household) to the Disaster Recovery Center in Jacksonville to date.

Of those who have applied for assistance in Onslow County, more than $4 million in claims have been paid to more than 680 National Flood Insurance Program policyholders and more than $8.8 million in state and federal grants has been awarded to nearly 2,600 homeowners and renters.

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