The waters of the Lumber River flowing past the City of Lumberton are now at a moderate flood stage of 17.5 feet. Should no significant rain events occur, the river is forecast to drop below minor flood stage by October 23 rd .
FEMA officials have been working to assist Robeson County residents. As of Tuesday morning, Individual Assistance for individuals and households has been approved for 27 NC counties, FEMA has received 40,728 applicants, and currently has $21.9 million for Individual Assistance. Disaster Survivor Assistance
Team have been working at each shelter to assist people in applying. Individuals can also apply by phone 1-800-621- 3362 or online at: www.disasterassistance.gov.
FEMA Public Assistance for communities is approved in 37 NC counties. Communities in the approved counties will be notified of Application Briefings to assist communities in applying for assistance. FEMA will be scheduling application briefings in the near future.
Interstate 95 is now open in both directions with no detours between Virginia and South Carolina. According to the NCDOT TIMS site there are presently 34 road closures in Robeson County. Most of these closures are at bridges or culverts that are washed out or have been damaged. The most up to date information on road openings and closures is available at the NC DOT Traveler Information Management System (TIMS) https://tims.ncdot.gov/tims/.
The number of power outages also declined as Duke Energy and other electric utilities work to repair substations and replace power poles and lines. Duke Energies outage map reported Tuesday morning that there was one customer power outage. The Lumbee River EMC outage map indicated two outages remain on their customer grid in Robeson County.
All Robeson County water systems are considered safe for use. The City of Lumberton is using portable water systems and city well supplies to deliver water to City residents; however, a “boil water order” is in place for customers on the city water system.
A staging/distribution center is being maintained at the Southeastern Agricultural Center off Sanchez Rd, near I-74. This center provides a central area to mobilize equipment and supplies out to affected areas. To date FEMA has provided 40 tractor trailer loads of water and 10 tractor trailer loads of MRE’s.
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