Homes that were undamaged by Hurricane Matthew are about to flood in this part of Conway
Dozens of homes were inundated with floodwater Saturday in the southern
Water was about 6 feet high Saturday at
Edmonds, walking barefoot, unloaded pieces of a bed frame, a rug and a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles pillow into his son-in-law's Silverado truck bed about a mile and half from his house, which is where the water meets the road.
He said it took about 20 to 30 minutes a few days earlier to get out of the floodwaters from his house, but now that the water has risen high enough, he can use his boat's motor and get out in 5 to 10 minutes.
"Better for the boat, bad for me," Edmonds said of the rising water.
He built his home on stilts specifically to withstand a major flood, he said, and it escaped Hurricane Matthew undamaged in 2016, with about 10 inches to spare.
Wading by his home early Saturday, the water was halfway up his top step, and Edmonds pointed to a spot about 2 feet higher than the current water line.
"I'm all done if it reaches there," he said, as a power pole audibly shakes several feet away due to the current.
A retired plumber, Edmonds said he doesn't have flood insurance because he couldn't afford it, but he expressed more concern for his neighbors, rattling off short snippets of information about each one as he directed his boat past each home.
"They're just renters," he said, pointing to a house where the top of a white car peaked out from the water next to a bench swing.
"I'd be wanting my money back," he said about another, looking at a green house almost completely submerged. It was built just a few years ago, he said.
Edmonds knows the road to recovery will be long -- it took about four weeks after Matthew before he was able to drive to and from his house, he said -- but he's confident he and his neighbors will bounce back.
"Everybody down here helps each other," Edmonds said. "We got each others' backs."
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