Clarkton residents worry about canal flooding as Tropical Storm Debby moves through

CLARKTON, NC (WWAY) — In Bladen County, there are growing concerns about inland flooding from Tropical Storm Debby.

In the town of Clarkton, some residents are worried the canals won’t be able to move all the rainwater away from their homes.

Some areas of Clarkton flooded earlier this week after a storm, which caused a tree to fall into one of the canals.

As Debby gets closer, more rain has fallen and ended up in the canals.

One of the canals was close to overflowing just several hours after WWAY got on the scene there.

Clarkton resident Rhonda Caballero said she feels the town didn’t do enough after Hurricane Florence to prevent flooding of the canals again.

“I have a lot of concern with the canals in our town,” Caballero said. “They are not being cleaned routinely and it’s causing unnecessary backups in the canals. Prior to Debby, I was at a meeting at a church in town and I could not get back to my home. The flooding was so high, I could not drive to my home. I tried three different directions and could not get in.”

One of Caballero’s neighbors, Mitchell Edwards, had a tree fall over in his backyard.

He said there is only so much the town can do to stop flooding from happening.

“I think they’ve been doing the best they can under the circumstances,” Edwards said. “They just, like Florence, that’s a lot of water at one time.”

WWAY reached out to the mayor of Clarkton, who said he would not speak about the canals.