Home-cooking, community brings Wayne County together one year after Hurricane Matthew

Mae's took in 62 inches of water when the Neuse River flooded during the storm last year.

The landlords spent eight months repairing the building so restaurant owner Jackie Rouse could re-open in June.

"It was well underwater, all I saw was the sign," Rouse said. "So it was completely flood at that time."

The majority of the town felt the same way.

"When the flood came, it basically destroyed everything here," Jimmy Benson said. "It sort of left us feeling like we were forgotten about."

Mayor Stephen Potter's home also flooded. He and his mother returned home in in June. He said it is a "Godsend" having a business back in town.

"It brings the community back together again because this is where people come to sit and talk and visit and see everybody," Rouse said. "When it was gone, you didn't see anybody."

Potter said he keep going because of the community.

"Because we love this place," he said. "My family has lived down here for over 100 years."

Potter raised the foundation of the home again, several feet past where he had already raised it after Hurricane Floyd.

"There are many people who can't afford to rebuild, so basically they're just in limbo," he said.

Seventeen miles down the road in the city of Goldsboro, Mayor Chuck Allen took WRAL TV on a tour of the hardest hit areas.

"Four hundred homes have been damaged. We still probably have 200 families displaced somewhere," he said. "The water in these houses were probably two and a half or three feet."

House after house is condemned in the South John Street community, where 108 homeowners are waiting for the FEMA buyout.

"On the buyout program the best case scenario is three years, and probably more like five years," Allen said. "And so at a federal level we got to figure out why we can't do that better, quicker."

Until that happens, Mayor Allen says he believes people need to significantly elevate their homes or move.

"My position is you're in the flood plain, it's going to flood again," he said. "If we can get the people to higher ground, that needs to be our goal and that is our goal."

"Flood proofing is the main thing, if you live in a flood plain you need to flood proof."

Potter has unique survival plan for Seven Springs. He wants to remove destroyed homes and convert empty lots into RV campsites for travelers who want to take advantage of the river.

"If we're going to survive I think we're going to have to use the river," he said. "The river that has been our biggest enemy is also our best friend."

In the meantime, Rouse will keep serving hot home-cooking with a healthy side of hope at Mae's.

"We're going to try our best to make it survive. I'm not going to entertain any other option," Potter said.