As Hurricane Florence zeroes in on the east coast, residents of the Carolinas and Virginia are being urged to evacuate and move to safety. Among those fleeing the vicious storm is Marshall County native, Colby Stearns, who now resides in New Bern, North Carolina.
The area the 2013 MCHS graduate now calls home is one of many under mandatory evacuation. Those who are choosing to stay behind are doing so at their own risk. “If they stay, nobody will come to help them. They were told that and made aware of that” Stearns said.
This was not a chance he and his girlfriend were willing to take as they are soon expecting a new baby. The decision was made to travel to Florida to stay until they are able to return home. Packing enough to be gone for two weeks if need be, they did what they could to secure their home and belongings before leaving.
“I was more worried about getting her and the baby out of there before the storm started. We packed as much as we could fit in the car just in case.”
Pictures were taken of everything to be used for insurance claims and they moved what they could away from the windows and covered other things with tarps. Many neighbors were boarding their windows and taking precautions of their own.
Stearns says most stores were sold out of water and only premium gasoline was available at the few stations who weren’t completely sold out.
Flooding is of major concern to the family as their house is near a river. This may make returning home in the near future especially difficult as there is no way to tell how long roads will remain flooded.
“I’m hoping we can leave to go home on Sunday, but we’re prepared to stay longer depending on the roads”. He plans to monitor the situation with friends who decided to stay behind and will determine when it is possible to return.