Hurricane Ian pounds New Bern, Craven with rain, strong gusts of wind
Craven County residents woke up Friday morning to lots of rain and some severe wind gusts as Hurricane Ian made its way up the east coast and into eastern North Carolina. While Ian made its mark on eastern North Carolina, business remained usual for most in the area.
More than 100 residents in Brices Creek and 457 residents in Havelock were without power as Duke Progress Energy worked to restore services. By noon, those who reported power outages had services restored.
By sunrise Friday morning downtown New Bern had begun to experience localized flooding along the riverfront. Barricades blocked off Union Point Park, which saw its worst flooding since Hurricane Florence in 2018. Water covered the park's grounds from the boardwalk to the curb of East Front Street, with fish washed up along the dock area near the Courtyard by Marriott hotel.
At the corner of South Front Street, barricades also closed off a section of Metcalf Street where water pooled along the perimeter of the North Carolina History Center at Tryon Palace.
New Bern's Historic District also saw flooding early Friday. Water washed over the sidewalks and benches, causing traffic to come to a standstill along a water-choked section of road near the corner of New Street. Further down the road, steady rains had begun to inundate the yards of homes along the waterfront, some of which were only recently repaired from damage in past storms.
While roads remained passable along North Craven Street and National Avenue, one of the areas hardest hit by Hurricane Florence, New Bern's Woodrow community, was already seeing a significant accumulation of water along roadways and in yards.
In other parts of New Bern, Trent Woods saw several trees uprooted with storm debris covering the roadways. Areas of James City, Brices Creek and New Bern's commercial district also saw difficult driving conditions.
Around 12:30 p.m. New Bern Fire-Rescue was called to Union Point after a report came in that a boat had struck one of the bridges over the Neuse and Trent Rivers. Emergency responders launched a rescue boat and recovered one person who was taken back to Union Point.
More information on the rescue was unknown at the time of deadline.
Most businesses in New Bern are operating as usual.
Michelle Lynn, owner of Country Biscuit, said she will operate regular business hours today and tomorrow.
"We are open and business is steady," she said. "Lots of drive thru and online order. We will open tomorrow bright and early 5 a.m., even if it is raining."
Erika Hodges, owner of River Brew Wine and Creamery also said they will be open regular hours.
"Business has been kind of slow," she said, "but we have no plans of closing."
This article originally appeared on Sun Journal: Hurricane Ian pounds New Bern, Craven with rain, strong gusts of wind
