By LEE HINNANT,
JEFFERSON WEAVER
and RAY WYCHE

Rescue teams evacuated 14 Delco residents Friday as floodwaters from Ernesto’s rain poured into homes along Water Tank Road. Five roads were closed because of flooding as streams continued to rise.

Ernesto’s gusts hit only 41 mph at Lake Waccamaw, but the storm dumped three to seven inches of rain across the county, weather watchers reported. Four homes lost power temporarily, according to Columbus County Emergency Services.

County officials and the Red Cross opened the doors at Ransom Community Center to shelter some of the evacuees. During the storm, no one sought shelter at either of the two sites opened by the county – East Columbus High School and South Columbus High School.

The state Department of Transportation, in a prepared statement, announced partial roads closures near Delco for Dew Oil Road, Swimming Hole Road, Livingston Chapel Road and Water Tank Road. Near Tabor City, part of Old Dothan Road was also flooded.

By early Sunday, Water Tank and Livingston Chapel roads were clear. DOT expects other roads to be passable by Tuesday.

“I’ve been on the phone since 5 o’clock this morning,” DOT maintenance supervisor Anthony Edwards said Friday. He said he had received numerous calls regarding flooded roads and downed trees in the Delco area.

“We’ve got several roads closed because the water is so deep,” he said.

Volunteer firefighters from across the county helped clear trees that blocked or partially obstructed 16 roads, Emergency Services reported. Fifteen roads were on the county’s “high water” list at the peak of the storm.

As shelters at East and South Columbus High Schools were opened Thursday, ECHS maintenance worker Gary Jones tied down trashcans and waited. He is a veteran of converting the high school into a hurricane shelter and was waiting for other county employees to arrive with an emergency trailer.

“Most people that come here are worried about flooding,” he said. “That’s how it usually is. We can hold about 150 in here.”

When Wesley Cook and Eric Nobles arrived with a generator and other equipment, he showed them where to ground the generator and park the trailer.

“The holes are still there from last time,” Jones said.

The emergency trailers are deployed whenever the county needs to supply a shelter. Each carries a generator, as well as other supplies – including tools and tie-downs to keep the trailer in place in high winds.

Jean Jacobs and Cyndi Hammonds were setting up an intake station in the hall of the high school. Shortly after 5 p.m. Thursday, hours before Ernesto came ashore at Long Beach, their folding table was the only thing in the wide, empty hall that could become living quarters for 150 people.

“We hope we don’t have anybody,” Jacobs said, “but it’s going to be a long night either way.”

Hayes said around 50 people were involved in the county’s emergency response, including those at the county command post in Whiteville.

“We’ve been busy,” he said.

“Road Closed” signs dotted routes in the Acme-Delco area, but some people ignored the signs.

As floodwaters climbed over the bridges on Swimming Hole Road, joyriders took two four-wheel-drive vehicles through the fender-deep water.

Melissa Gale took 5-year-old Javon to see the water where it crossed the pavement creating a 150-foot-wide channel several feet deep.

“I wouldn’t want to go in there,” Javon said. “It’s scary.”

Gale said she had gone to town to get gasoline, and found two of three routes from her Old Union Road home blocked by water.

“I wouldn’t drive through it,” she said. “It’s a mess, but I guess it could have been a lot worse.”

Lillian Justice of the Gooseneck community near Acme said her rain gauge could hold four inches of rain before overflowing, so the exact amount of precipitation in the area is unknown.

Lake Waccamaw State Park reported that 7.8 inches of rain was measured at the park Thursday through Friday morning. Ranger Shane Freeman said the storm caused no damage other than two small fallen trees that partially blocked a road in the park.

The N.C. Crop Research Station northwest of Whiteville reported 3.70 inches Thursday through 7:30 a.m. Friday, with no wind damage, according to Barry Thompson at the station.

Of the total rainfall at the research station during the hurricane, 0.26 inches fell on Thursday morning.

Bob High of Pleasant Plains said his gauge showed five inches of rain from Ernesto.

The N.C. Forest Service rain gauge in west Whiteville recorded 4.49 inches as of 5 a.m. Friday, with Forestry Service stations to the east reporting larger amounts of rainfall. Holly Shelter in Pender County had 10.2 inches, Sunny Point in Brunswick County 5.08 inches, and Jones Lake in Bladen County 4.60 inches during the storm.

The state Wildlife Resources Commission warned boaters to use caution in the days following the storm, since high water and submerged debris could pose hazards.