‘Dealing with Mother Nature’: Cramerton wants retractable wall to combat floods
The town of Cramerton is considering a new option to stop flooding along the South Fork River.
Year after year, the town has seen rainstorms bring rising water levels from the river. Earlier this month, high water flooded streets, leaving some impassable for days. And four years ago, water came into Cramerton Drug Company just off the banks of the South Fork River.
That’s what the town is trying to prevent -- and they’re looking at a rising flood wall to do it.
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“It does scare us every time we get a projection of how high it’s going to be,” Preston Guy, the owner of Cramerton Drug, told Channel 9′s Ken Lemon on Wednesday.
Water came up to the back door of Guy’s shop during the storms two weeks ago. It’s been here for more than 50 years, but Guy says he feels under constant assault from the weather.
“I think we are seeing it more often now than we did 20 years ago,” Guy said.
The mayor of Cramerton, Nelson Wills, says Guy is right. He told Lemon on Wednesday that developers are building more homes and neighborhoods upstream.
“As blacktops go in and development happens, that water has got to go somewhere,” Wills said.
The mayor says the water is coming to downtown Cramerton.
“We have got to take measures because it’s not going to get better without engineering,” Wills said.
The rising flood wall would sit below the surface and undetectable until the water rises, officials told Lemon. Then it would rise high enough to keep water from the South Fork River from flowing into businesses, homes, and the main road through downtown.
The town has a task force to consider options to deal with flooding, including dredging the river and adding a flood wall that runs about the length of two-and-a-half football fields.
SEE MORE: Swollen South Fork River has Cramerton residents on edge
Wills says they are looking to settle on options by the summer and then work on implementation.
“We are dealing with Mother Nature and we are dealing with millions of gallons of water,” Wills told Lemon.
The mayor says they will need help from partners like the state to pay for solutions. It may not happen for several months, but he says they have to do something or else risk more flooding and more problems.
(WATCH: At least 1 killed after intense storm brings flooding, high winds, possible tornado)
