'We're all in shock-' Family mourns 2 swept away by flood waters in Nash County

Raymond Evans Jr. and his step-daughter, Lottie Alston, were returning home from a medical appointment when they tried to cross a flooded road. Their car was swept into a ravine, and they drowned.

On Thursday, a memorial of flowers bloomed at the site.

“We’re all in shock. We are all in shock right now,” Evans’ brother, Randy Williams said as he looked over the spot on Louisburg Road where his brother lost his life.

 “I’m looking at the scenery to see how high the water went,” he said. “I just wonder, ‘How come?'”

“The vehicle was swept off the right side of the road,” Nash County Sheriff Keith Stone
said. “It went 30 to 35 yards into the ravine or the ditch area that was overflowing
with fast-moving water. At that time, the two occupants got out of the vehicle, [they]
got on top of the vehicles.”

Spring Hope Police Lt. Jason Leary saw Alston fall in the water. He jumped in to help — in water over his head — but was unable to get to the pair.

“I thought that I could make it to her, so I ran and dove in [and] tried to grab her,” Leary said. “The water was moving extremely fast. It was deep. I never got to her. Once she went under, I never saw her again.”

Leary on Thursday returned to where it happened. 

“It was not a survivable situation,” said Leary. “When you try to go through water moving that fast —  we estimated it going 50-60 mph across the road. I know we did all we could do, but it’s eye opening.”

Williams said, “Seeing two innocent people gone just like that … it’s a tragic loss for all of us. It’s hard.”

Williams said he will remember his brother as a hero.

Leary said he had not seen floods like Wednesday since Hurricane Floyd in September 1999.

In Nash County on Wednesday, three crashes and seven different flooded roofs were reported.

“During these storms, it takes just a little bit of debris in these pipes and things of nature that are going under the roads to turn a low area into a flooded area,” Stone said.

Stone urged drivers never to forge through rushing water. 

“Our hearts go out to the families that lost their loved ones today,” said Sgt. Kevin Bissette with the Nash County Sheriff’s Office.

Spring Hope Mayor Kyle Pritchard thanked the law enforcement agencies for responding to the scene.

“It’s very important that you all adhere to the messages that Sheriff Stone mentioned,” Pritchard said. “When you see the floodwaters to take that into consideration, and it may take you a little bit longer to get home, but please, do not drive through the water.”

WRAL spoke with neighbors who say flooding as severe as what was seen Wednesday has never happened before recently built housing developments began being built in Spring Hope, and they believe runoff from the neighborhood is making the area more hazardous.

“Yesterday’s flooding was a widespread event that impacted all over the Spring Hope area, including parts of town that are not within the watersheds of the new neighborhoods,” said Spring Hope Town Manager Andrew DeIonno in a statement to WRAL. “The stormwater systems are the purview of the HOA, but both detention basins appear to have fared the storm without apparent breeches in the levees and uncompromised structures.”

Keep yourselves safe during flooding

Source – Indonesia News