Heavy rain floods downtown Whiteville forcing local businesses to deal with damage again

COLUMBUS COUNTY (WWAY) — Water rushed into the streets of downtown Whiteville, and into local businesses. 

Another round of heavy rain has left the city flooded again, after water breached the nearby Soules Swamp gauge at 8.5 feet. 

The Donut Shop is a small business on the outskirts of downtown Whiteville. 

The shop has been around for 34 plus years, and co-owner Elizabeth Kasitati has been inspecting damage caused by standing water caught on her surveillance camera. 

“One of my friends called me and said that the water was coming into the shop, and so when I looked on the camera, you could see water just gushing in, and by the time that I was able to get here there was a foot and a half of water standing in the shop,” said Kasitati. 

With frustrations running high, Kasitati says when it comes to flooding, they are crying for help. 

“We are dying. The city, the business owners are killing ourselves, working so hard, what is being done?” asked Kasitati. 

Darren Currie is the City Manager of Whiteville.  

He says that, because the city is built on floodplains and lies close to Soles Swamp, there are some places that will always continue to flood, despite the city’s efforts. 

“We try to do the best we can. We do not have an unlimited supply of funding. We try to go get grants where we can, and we still spend a lot of local money, but there are places that will always flood,” said Currie. 

Currie says that the city is constantly working on ways to wrangle the flooding.  

“We’re continuously looking at ways to improve, out of that original study we had done after Matthew, it identified that we also needed to do a stormwater program, we’ve done that, we’ve got a stormwater crew now that goes around and tries to make sure tiles are open and our outfalls are clean, so they are always working on those things,” said Currie. 

Hal Lowder is the Emergency Manager for the City of Whiteville, and he says that there are so many moving parts that come with the flooding. 

“You know, cost, and no matter how much money you spend, there are going to be areas that are going to flood,” said Lowder.  

Lowder says when you put cement on top of a floodplain, the flooding will continue to repeat itself.  

“It’s frustrating for us to see our public that we like to protect, and the people we love out here, suffering,” said Lowder. 

Due to road closures, Columbus County Schools will operate on a two-hour delay for students and staff on Tuesday, October 14.