“It’s Gone”: Homeowner distraught after barge destroys new dock

BOLIVIA, NC (WWAY-TV) — After a barge crashed into a private dock Tuesday morning, the collision has left behind a pile of debris and a destroyed dock.

WWAY reached out to the owner of the dock, Mike Longhany, who wasn’t home at the time of the wreck. A neighbor told him about the crash.

“Unbelievable, just distraught, I mean words can’t describe it,” Longhany said. “We just completed the pier and it’s gone.”

Longhany said they see a lot of barges in the waterway but nothing like this has happened before. He said they did hear from the captain of the barge

“The captain called the day of the accident and apologized and then they were gone,” Longhany said.

The U.S. Coast Guard is investigating, but Roy Daugherty a neighbor from two doors down said no one has come out to clean up the mess.

“I’m hoping that somebody shows up and they clean up all this stuff out of the water so that a small boat like I own don’t come down the waterway at night time and hit a board and knock a hole in their boat or bend their prop and they’re stuck,” Daugherty said.

WWAY reached out to the owner of the barge, Carver Marine Towing who did not comment.

“The coast guard said there is an investigation but it’s been 40 hours and nobody has showed up yet,” Daugherty said.

The U.S. Coast Guard at North Carolina Sector told WWAY that the property owner is working to remove the remaining debris and there are no known hazards to navigating the waterway.

Daugherty says differently.

“Lots of 4 by 4s and 2 by 4s just floating down the waterway,” Daughterty said.

Longhany said they are still unsure how the barge ended up heading toward the pier.

“It being high tide we’re trying to figure out why he was going that direction the marker buoys are on the otherside of the channel,” Longhandy said. “We’ve never had barges come that close to the pier before.”