Flooding in Carolina Beach

The roads are dry and the rain has subsided, but Kelly’s Beach Bar is still all wet.

A combination of high tide, heavy winds and plenty of rain flooded the business Kelly Fowler has owned for the past six years.

“We had minnows in the women’s room, things were floating around, we had more water down here last night than I can remember,” Fowler said.

By the end of the night, Fowler said she had about a foot of water in the bar. She has seen her fair share of storms, but said her bar has not been damaged this bad since Ophelia flooded it in 2005.

She is still in good spirits because she planned for things like this. She has flood insurance so the carpet, titles and fixtures will be replaced.

“It’s water, we can deal with it and I can stay open through the process. Everybody pitches in and helps, we’ll be fine, Kelly said.

The aftermath of a flood did not stop her regulars from coming by for a drink, even without her sign out front. Her street sign can only handle winds up to 65 miles per hour so she took down in preparation for Tropical Storm Hanna and did not put it back up just in case.

“We were going to put it back up but I said no, let’s just leave it down. So I’m glad we left that down, I didn’t lose my sign,” added Fowler.