As Hurricane Florence batters the coast of the Carolinas, people in Anson County, about 160 miles west of Wilmington, are bracing for impact.
“It’s got me scared,” said Ashley Maxwell, “I could probably handle the power outages, but when it gets to flooding, I don’t think I can handle that.”
Emergency management officials said the county is expected to receive anywhere from 15 to 20 inches of rain. They said with the ground already highly saturated, they’re preparing for downed trees, power outages and significant flooding.
“Probably going to be a 10, it's going to be bad,” says Rodney Diggs, chief of emergency services for Anson County. Diggs said more than 600 homes lost power Friday morning.
The Summers family was one them. They stopped into the Wadesboro Tractor Supply Company Friday with their one-year-old daughter to try to buy a generator.
“Just worrying about being able to feed her and you know, with the refrigerator, we have no power, so opening and closing the refrigerator isn’t really an option right now,” said Rick Summers.
Unfortunately, the store was sold out of many items including generators and gas cans. The store’s manager said they’ve had a steady surge of customers since Monday.
Duke Energy said crews were able to restore power to nearly 500 of the 600 customers out of power by Friday afternoon. But as heavy rains are expected over the weekend, Diggs is encouraging everyone to stay home.
“We’re going to have some issues with roads washing out and things like that. And never try to drive through the water. Even though it looks like it’s safe, it could have washed out from under it and there’s nothing there other than some water, so when you drive across you may be in a hole,” says Diggs.
For anyone seeking a safe place to ride out the storm, county officials with the assistance of the Red Cross have opened an emergency shelter at the Wadesboro Primary School, 1542 US-52, Wadesboro, N.C.
For others, officials said they’re prepared for the worst, but continue to hope for the best.
“We’re really worried, but we’re praying. God's going to take care of us,” says Wadesboro resident Latonya Pegues.
