Hurricane Ian aftermath: Cape Fear region begins to clean up after flooding, wind damage

Residents in the Cape Fear region woke up to blue skies and beautiful fall weather Saturday morning. At first glance, it might seem nothing was amiss. But looking a bit closer, telltale signs of Hurricane Ian remained in the debris, sand and standing water left behind.

Hurricane Ian made landfall — its second in the United States — in Georgetown around 2 p.m. Friday. But for hours before, the storm pounded the Cape Fear region with wind, heavy rains and a significant storm surge, closing roads and inundating areas with water.

Brunswick County took the brunt of the storm, but New Hanover and Pender counties also felt its effects.

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Ocean Isle, Sunset Beach take the brunt

At 10 a.m. Saturday morning, George Arabea was just starting to pick up limbs and pull the soaking wet items from the ground-floor storage area in his Ocean Isle Beach home. He had spent much of the morning helping residents on the East side of the island as they attempted to clean up.

Arabea said residents on the east side of Ocean Isle Beach were among the hardest hit with “north of three feet” inundating the area.

“The whole street was covered,” he said.

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Island Park, the neighborhood where Arabea’s home is located, had only 11 or 12 inches of water come under the homes. He and his neighbors were now forced to deal with the after-effects: inches of dried mud and debris, sinkholes and an errant dumpster.

Arabea had watched Hurricane Ian approach from his home on Sandpiper Court in Ocean Isle Beach. He recalled breathing a sigh of relief when high tide had passed shortly before noon.

“The storm surge wasn’t really that bad at that time,” he said.

But the water kept coming. While Arabea wasn’t afraid, he does recall being surprised at the storm surge.

“Water didn’t start receding until around 3 or 4 o’clock, which was good to see. As you can see, it left a lot of debris,” Arabea said, gesturing to a large, brown industrial-style dumpster lodged between his and his neighbor’s homes.

While he was glad to see the water recede Friday afternoon, Arabea said the storm was far from over. For hours into the night, Hurricane Ian’s winds shook his home.

“So, try to picture: you’ve got all the (hurricane) shutters pulled, so you can’t really see,” he said. “It’s dark, and your house is shifting around.”

Arabea said while it “wasn’t too big a concern,” it was a “unique feeling.”

Pete Miller and Sharon Demers, who live in the Windjammer condos on the oceanside of Ocean Isle, didn’t feel their building shake, but they did see an angry ocean.

“The ocean breached the dunes in a lot of places, and washed away most of the walkways,” Miller said, gesturing to the west end.

Arabea compared the damage to when Hurricane Matthew hit the area back in 2016, adding that it will likely be a lot of personal property damage from the storm.

Now, residents are faced with cleaning up the damage left behind. But as one woman who owns two properties on Ocean Isle Beach said, “We’re OIB Strong.”

Sunset Beach also saw water breach its Causeway, and its bridge remained closed throughout Friday night and didn’t re-open until 10 a.m. Saturday morning. Crews were busy assessing walkways and clearing debris from roadways.

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Southport, Oak Island began to assess damage

Southport’s Yacht Basin was dry, but sand and debris told the story of an angry Cape Fear River crashing over the bulkhead along Bay Street. City crews were busy evaluating docks and structures.

Around Oak Island, people walked their dogs, and a group was busy setting up for a wedding near the Oak Island Pier.

One woman out for a walk with her dog said most of the water had receded, but she noted the ocean did breach the dunes — just rebuilt from Hurricane Isaias — in some areas.

New Hanover beach towns

In New Hanover County’s beach towns, some signs of Friday’s storm lasted into Saturday morning.

Though flooding had mostly subsided in Carolina Beach, parts of Canal Drive were still blocked off to traffic because of standing water that remained in the area. Large amounts of sand were also left along the beach’s popular boardwalk, with the stairs leading down to the beach at the Surf East parking lot completely covered.

That didn’t stop people from heading out for a day in the sun, though, as conditions cleared up for a beautiful day Saturday. Dozens of people walked along Carolina Beach’s coast, and others had already set up a spot to lounge in the sun.

Several groups could be spotted walking along the beach collecting large shells washed up to shore during the storm. One woman carried a large conch shell she had picked up as beachgoers collected their finds in plastic shopping bags.

One group said they were from out-of-town and were vacationing in Carolina Beach when the storm hit, but they wanted to “go with the flow” and not let it ruin their trip. One of the women, Regina, said she volunteers with Bikers Against Child Abuse in West Virginia, and she had two large bags full of shells to take back to the children she works with.

“I don’t think my children in West Virginia have ever seen seashells this big,” she said.

Downtown Wilmington

Where streets were flooded from the Cape Fear River less than a day ago, downtown Wilmington was dry and sunny, making for a beautiful Saturday of shopping and dining.

Many local businesses on and around the Wilmington Riverwalk were spared from the flooding, though staff said the streets were covered in water for about an hour at the river’s high tide Friday. During the storm, few windows were boarded up in preparation for Hurricane Ian, and very minimal damage was done once the storm was over.

With only a few clouds in the sky Saturday morning, downtown was already busy with people dining outside to enjoy the nice weather, walking through shops and finding the best spots to watch college football.

Staff at Wilmington Distillery, 12 Dock St., said they didn’t have any water make it into the business, but sidewalk space was limited because of the water that gathered along the streets. One staff member there said she watched children splashing and playing in the water during Friday’s storm.

They said the damage and flooding didn’t compare to past storms, like Hurricane Florence in 2018, and Wilmington was lucky to see minimal impacts, especially after the damage done to Florida’s west coast.

“It could have been way worse,” one staff member said.

Pender County

In Pender County, some beach accesses and areas in coastal towns remained closed due to flooding, but the damage was minimal overall.

In North Topsail Beach, officials shared on Facebook that roads like New River Inlet Road and Seagull lane reopened Saturday morning after flooding cleared. Area beach accesses remained closed.

The town also advised drivers to use caution as the city's Public Works staff swept sand from roadways.

"Please be mindful of staff working in these areas and if possible refrain from driving through these areas of wet sand so we can get them cleaned quickly."

This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: Hurricane Ian aftermath: Wilmington Residents begin clean-up