Harrisburg Neighborhoods Still Dealing With Flooding After Debby

Multiple properties were still partially submerged under feet of water in Harrisburg when WCCB Charlotte visited Friday afternoon.
James Scott,

HARRISBURG, N.C. —Β  β€œAnytime you hear the potential for 4-6” of rain in less than 24 hours, if you’ve lived here long enough, you know it’s coming,” says Brandon Melton.

“You just prepare for how bad it’s going to be.”

Melton has seen a lot in Harrisburg over the seven years he’s lived here, but he says this is the second-worst flooding he’s seen in his neighborhood.

Water levels have receded significantly around the Rocky River in Harrisburg, but Riverside Drive remained closed as late as Friday afternoon to outside traffic and several properties are still swamped.

We saw multiple houses with water damage along Astor Drive, which connects to Riverside. But, the worst damage was found just under a half-mile upstream along Cambridge Drive.

β€œIt hasn’t been this bad probably since 2008,” says Ken Duval, who showed WCCB Charlotte around his property Friday afternoon.

He points to a water line that came dangerously close to overtaking his front door, saying the rain came down in droves late Wednesday night and seemed like it would never stop.

β€œI walked to the front of the house, I had my little rain gauge that’s sitting right there, and I looked at it. It said five inches of rain. And right there, I knew we were in trouble.”

He took everything he could to higher ground before the Rocky River roared into the lower level of his house.

β€œNine in the morning, the water was way back there. By the time we left at around 4:00, it was already over the road.”

But for his shed, pool, and basement, there was nothing to be done.

β€œThe water pushed everything over. These tables and all that stuff that’s left in here, it’s going to be a loss and we’ll fill up the trailer and take it to the dump.”

Duval’s house was overtaken by water in 2008 by Tropical Storm Fay as the system dumped over a foot of rain across portions of Cabarrus County. He told WCCB Charlotte that his flood insurance covered the damages and raised his house by a few feet out of the floodplain – a decision that saved his home this time around.