Columbus County News

Gov. Bev Perdue has asked FEMA to add counties to its disaster declaration request for recovery, including derbis removal, after Hurricane Irene. The list includes several counties in our area, including Brunswick, Columbus, Duplin, Onslow and Pender. Full story...

The Pender High School football team will play a home game away from home Friday because of damage to the football field. Full story...

Topsail has one of the best 2-A soccer teams in the east. They've got an outstanding volleyball team too. Laney picked up another win on Tuesday. Click video to see it all on WWAY online. Full story...

A Tabor City teen with ties to former state Sen R.C. Soles remains in jail tonight. Yesterday Allen "Frog" Strickland turned himself in after five days on the run. Full story...

When severe weather hits the Cape Fear, folks here know they can depend on the StormTrack 3 Weather Team and WWAYTV3.com to keep them informed online. During the three days of Hurricane Irene (Thursday, Friday & Saturday) more than 160,000 people visited WWAYTV3.com and the site had almost 690,000 pageviews those three days (according to Google Analytics). Full story...

Now that Allen "Frog" Strickland is sitting comfortably in the Columbus County jail on a $25 million bond, it seemed appropriate to honor his five day run from the cops with a special song. Full story...

Allen "Frog" Strickland back in jail in Columbus County tonight after turning himself in to bail bondsman Mark Cartret. Full story...

Tabor City Police say Allen "Frog" Strickland called Chief Donald Dowless Saturday and said he would turn himself in this morning. At last check, the teen has not shown up. Full story...

Progress Energy said Saturday afternoon 280,000 customers in North Carolina had no electricity. As of 11 a.m. Monday, that number was down to 91,300, including 10,100 in Onslow. New Hanover County had 2,200 homes and business still in the dark. That's down from about 7,000 Sunday night. Pender County has 1,500 outages. There are still 940 Progress Energy customers without power in Columbus County and 385 in Brunswick. Full story...

The Red Cross has closed some of the evacuation shelters opened yesterday for Hurricane Irene. All residents staying at these shelters have safely returned to their homes. Full story...

Hurricane Irene has left thousands of Cape Fear residents without power. If a power outage is 2 hours or less, you need not be concerned about losing your perishable foods. For prolonged power outages, though, there are steps you can take to minimize food loss and to keep all members of your household as comfortable as possible. Full story...

Even Hurricane Irene cannot stop another chapter in the strange story of a teen with ties to former state Sen. R.C. Soles. Law enforcement in Columbus County are on the hunt for Allen "Frog" Strickland. Yesterday the 19-year-old cut off his GPS bracelet, but that's just the beginning. Full story...

Just when you thought the story of Allen "Frog" Strickland couldn't get any stranger, well, move over Hurricane Irene. Full story...

Week number two started a day early this week due to the anticipated arrival of Hurricane Irene. Click full story in order to see all the scores from Thursday & Friday night from around North Carolina. Due to Friday's rain several games in the Raleigh area were not played. Full story...

FEMA announced that federal aid has been made available to North Carolina to supplement the state and local response efforts in the area due to the emergency conditions resulting from Hurricane Irene beginning on August 25, 2011, and continuing. Full story...