On Monday morning, fans, squeegees and mops were out in full force on Franklin Street. But by afternoon, most of them, and the water they had sought to dispel, were gone.
But while some downtown businesses rebounded quickly from the deluge, Chapel Hill and Orange County officials warned residents to stay vigilant as storms remain in the forecast.
Orange County Emergency Medical Services Director Jim Groves confirmed the county was in a state of emergency after the flooding, allowing local governments to seek federal disaster funding if it becomes available.
As of Wednesday, officials estimated about 130 flood-affected residences in Chapel Hill had been condemned, but that number could rise as more single-family homes are evaluated. Some of the hardest-hit residential areas were Camelot Village Condominiums and Brookwood Townhomes, both on Estes Drive.
At the storm’s peak, 41 people from some of those residences had been housed in a temporary shelter at Smith Middle School. By Tuesday night, that number had dropped to 19.
In the 300 block of West Franklin Street, one of the lowest areas in downtown, substantial flooding damaged pavement, cars and some business merchandise and fixtures. But few business owners said they expected the cost of repairs to break the bank.
Joey Lindsey, a Chapel Hill Comics employee, said though the store had a couple of inches of water throughout it, no merchandise or fixtures were lost.
“We didn’t really have any damage, which is amazing because water and comics don’t mix,” he said.
Among those businesses that did need repairs, employees expected most of their costs to come from replacing sections of the floors and ceilings. Employees at stores such as The Bookshop, Nail Trix and Somethin’ Else all said they would need to make such repairs.
