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KENANSVILLE — Duplin County Emergency Management Services officials attended the County Commissioners meeting on Aug. 5 to provide a briefing on Tropical Storm Debby.
“A stall in the system is expected and will cause increased rainfall amounts, resulting in widespread flooding. It’s going to be a prolonged event spanning three to four days,” EMS officials told the Board of County Commissioners. “Rainfall amounts may exceed 10 inches. Right now, they are calling 8 to 12 inches for the northern part of the county and 12 to 16 inches for the southern part of the county. Again, river flooding chances will increase late into the week.”
“With this storm traveling over the water as disorganized as it was in the beginning and then gaining some strength, going over land, then back over water eventually as it comes out of the Savannah area, it is very unpredictable.”
Tropical Storm Debby is expected to bring heavy rain, flash flooding, and potential river flooding late into the weekend, and early next week according to EMS officials, who also emphasized that Debby will not be a normal storm.
“It is not going to be over in 24 to 36 hours,” officials said. “We’re not going to get 10 to 12 inches of rain in 24 hours. I like to describe this one as a sneaky little hurricane because it is only going to give us an inch and a half, two inches of rain every 12 hours. But that cumulative total is eventually going to count and add up to something that could be disastrous.”
The good news for residents who have pets is that they will be able to take them to the Animal Services Care and Adoption Center if evacuation is ever believed necessary.
“Our operating policy now that we have the Animal Services Care and Adoption Center that has backup generator power, is that our residents would take their animals and leave them in the care of our animal services department, and then they would proceed to the human shelter wherever we designate — if we do that.”
County Manager Bryan Miller thanked the emergency management team, adding that they have done a tremendous job preparing ahead for situations like this.
“They started a month and a half ago having conversations with the health department and DSS on shelter operations and the expectations they had, and these things are playing out today. They have done a tremendous job preparing for this,” said Miller. “I feel very confident that they’ve got everything in line and a firm grasp on everything that we need to do moving forward.”
Another highlight of the meeting was the board’s unanimous approval of a resolution amending the capital project budget ordinance for the water supply well project at WestPark in Warsaw. The total cost of the well project is $2,278,150.
The amendment will increase funds and allow for the construction contracts to be awarded.
In 2022, Duplin County received $999,150 in grant funding from the Golden LEAF Foundation to construct a new water supply well. Last December, the bids received exceeded the budget and the project was broken into two contracts hoping to cut down costs.
One contract involved the construction of the well and the other contract was specifically for site work. According to Joseph McKemey, an engineer with McDavid Associates, after receiving the new bids for both contracts at the end of May, the project was still substantially over budget.
McKemey told the board that after several meetings with the county staff, Duplin County Economic Development Commission agreed to contribute $500,000 for the project. McKemey added that a local contribution of $779,000 is needed to balance the project’s budget and proceed with the construction of the well. He also explained that as the county grows, it will need another well on the eastern side of the county.
Both contracts will be awarded to A.C. Schultes of Carolina, Inc., who was the lowest bidder.
