03/28/2024
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Gov. Pat McCrory meets with some of the staff of Bladenboro Eye Clinic.
Gov. Pat McCrory meets with some of the staff of Bladenboro Eye Clinic.

To view more photos of Gov. McCrory’s tour, click here.

Gov. Pat McCrory toured the downtown business district of Bladenboro on Monday morning. He took a walking tour of downtown and talked with business owners attempting to learn what their immediate needs are as they continue to recover and rebuild their damaged businesses following Hurricane Matthew. Joining Gov. McCrory on the tour was Thomas Stith, chairman of the Hurricane Matthew Task Force.

Many businesses in downtown Bladenboro were flooded during the storm and at least one business has indicated they have no idea when they will reopen.

The first stop on the walking tour was Rodney’s Barber Shop where the owner, Rodney Baxley, told the Governor that he was still airing out the shop. Gov. McCrory inquired about how much water came into the shop and how long he was closed. Baxley replied several inches of water came into the shop.

“We’re working hard at it,” said Baxley about getting the barber shop repaired.

Next Gov. McCrory, walked to Main Street where he spoke with folks dining at Diamond Dave’s Restaurant and then he briefly entered Lailabeth’s hair salon before continuing his tour with a stop at the Medicine Shoppe and Bladenboro Eye Clinic.

Gov. McCrory spoke with Dr. Donald Helms about the condition of the eye clinic and the issues Dr. Helms has had with getting his businesses reopened.  Dr. Helms spoke with the Governor about the damage that occurred to the building from the flooding and said he currently has five employees who are out of work due to the business being closed.

Dr. Helms said that on Saturday sandbags were placed in front of the business but the sandbags were eventually overwhelmed by the amount of water. Dr. Helms said he has no temporary office anywhere from which he can work.

Gov. McCrory said that Bladenboro is an example of the many small towns throughout North Carolina. He said the residents are dependent on the shops to reopen following the storm as quickly as possible.

“It’s a nice sunny day …but you can smell the mildew (from the flooding),” said McCrory.

He said that the State of North Carolina has just ended the recovery phase and is moving into the rebuilding phase.

Gov. McCrory announced that Tuesday he will conduct the first meeting with the Hurricane Matthew Task Force. Gov. McCrory said that the committee will be taking all of the information gathered during various tours of hard hit areas and look at all of the reports.

Stith said, “The Governor has given us a strong directive.” He said the Task Force will be looking at things like impacts to individuals, raising money for those that are impacted, assessing such things as financial impacts to agriculture, businesses, commercial fisheries, and begin to develop a plan of action and strategies on how to begin the process of rebuilding. 

Stith also said he is joined on the task force by other co-chairs. They are Steve Wordsworth of Rocky Mount, Anne Faircloth of Clinton and Vanessa Harrison, North Carolina President of AT&T.

The Governor ended his tour of Bladen County with a stop in Elizabethtown at Melvin’s restaurant where he spoke to those who were dining. He also took a moment to stop in at Fisher’s Men’s and Ladies Shop to speak with owner Mike Suggs and his wife Karen and their staff.

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