In Wilmington’s ‘disaster wonderland,’ a few pockets of normalcy reappear

Naquasha Cokeley rested on the steps of the Wilson Center in downtown Wilmington Tuesday. Next to her was a box of 12 Meals-Ready-to-Eat and a case of water. Her three children – two girls and one boy – sat nearby.

When Hurricane Florence knocked out power in her apartment in Rankin Terrace, a public housing community on the north side of Wilmington, she lost all her food. She ran out of gas waiting in line at a service station, and the nearest grocery store was about two miles away.

Cokeley spent the last of her cash at a convenience store. Faced with no food and no transportation, she jumped at the chance to get food when authorities opened three food distribution points in Wilmington. The sites gave out MREs, water and tarps to residents.

About 40 people waited in line on foot and dozens of waiting cars circled the block as the site opened.

Wilmington has become a city of lines.

Lines to get food.

Lines for gas.

Lines to get supplies.

Every day more things slowly return to normal. Some street lights are lit. A few businesses are opening. But officials say Wilmington is a long way from recovering.

“It’s a tale of two cities,” New Hanover County Manager Chris Coudriet said. “Parts of the community are recovering, but we’re only a quarter of the way into this. We have hundreds of displaced people and hundreds without power. We’re going to be dealing with this for months.”

Trailed by her kids, Cokeley carried a case of donated water while her son carried a brown box of MREs. It was a long, sweaty walk home, but she was grateful to finally have food.

Despite signs of recovery, New Hanover County officials asked evacuated residents not to return to Wilmington. There are more than 500 people in a central shelter at Hoggard High School, some from as far away as Pender County, and hundreds of residents in shelters in the Raleigh-Durham area.

The coastal town is no longer cut off — U.S. 421 is now open — but access is limited. A curfew is still in place from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m.

More than 60,000 houses still are without power, but Duke Energy is working quickly to restore electricity, New Hanover County Commissioners Chairman Woody White said. More than 11,000 households were restored Monday.

“Every line of power has a crew on it,” White said.

Many of Wilmington’s roads are still a mess of tangled branches and downed power lines. The Masonboro area of the city, which sits west of Wrightsville Beach, and Forest Hills, an affluent neighborhood known for its shady lanes, were particularly hard hit.

Flooding was the biggest concern for residents along the banks of the Cape Fear River in northern New Hanover County. For the past two days, rescuers have spent nights ferrying people out of flooded houses. The Cape Fear River is expected to reach 61 feet upriver in Fayetteville Tuesday and crest in downtown Wilmington later this week, according to Wilmington Mayor Bill Saffo.

On Tuesday, residents in a small neighborhood off Route 117 north of Wilmington watched with concern as the river rose. The neighborhood along the scenic Northeast Cape Fear River was an island until the flooding subsided Tuesday.

Gary Myers lives on a cul-de-sac that is now a pond, flooded by Smith Creek, a tributary of the Cape Fear River. Myers put a brick on his driveway to track the rising water. Monday it was dry until evening, when the water continued to rise, forcing him to move the brick up a few feet.

His neighbor, Rossie Nance, called the Wilmington area “disaster wonderland.” He has lived in the neighborhood for 25 years. But this is the first time the bourbon-colored river water has ever risen this far.

“I’ve never seen anything like this in my life,” Nance said.

But back in Wilmington, there was some normalcy Tuesday as patrons crowded into the Goat & Compass, a bar in Wilmington’s Brooklyn Arts District.

When owner Scott Wagner found out power had been restored, he went to check on his business. “The WiFi was lit up like a Christmas tree,” he said. “I knew I could watch my Bears.”

A Chicago Bears fan, Wagner missed the team’s Monday night win over the Seattle Seahawks. The bar’s staff had been evacuated, so Wagner found the rebroadcast of Monday’s game, chilled some beer and threw open the doors for a few hours.

“It’s a little diversion from reality,” he said.

Men, women and children enjoyed the air conditioning, charged their phones and sipped cool drinks. Dogs sat on the concrete floor, next to a water bowl.

Emily Marriott came for the electricity and air conditioning. A cocktail didn’t hurt, either. During the storm, a tree limb smashed her roof, flooding her house. She was a little shaken from the storm.

She teared up as she described how the branch smashed through the roof.

“I lived through this,” she said. “There are people who didn’t. I’m the lucky one.”

This story was originally published September 18, 2018 at 7:46 PM.