Winds worsen flood conditions for Pamlico County town

Neighbors and business owners in Pamlico County are now doing whatever they can to dry out.

On a good day, the town of Oriental sits less than 10 feet above sea level and the past few days have not been good for the town’s only coffee shop, The Bean.

“We actually had to close for three days because the water was up to your rib cage,” said coffee shop manager Amron Kali.

Swimming is how Kali commuted to work, because in a town like Oriental, you do what it takes to get the job done.

Eric Kindle owns the coffee shop. He’s building a temporary sidewalk through the mud to get customers in.

Town manager Diane Miller said that she has never seen a storm have this effect, because the wind-not the rain or tide- cause the most trouble.

“This was pretty hard. Every one of our five municipal docks went under water,” said Miller. “The wind driven water, it pushed up the river. We had a steady northeast wind after two weeks of constant rain. The river was already swollen and the wind did the rest.”

“It didn’t seem like a storm,” said Kali. “It was just a northeast wind that kept blowing in, kept blowing the water up.”

Now, residents are crossing their fingers that the wind will shift and the water will recede.