As the eye of Tropical Depression Florence made its way out of the Carolinas Monday, residents continued to deal with rising waters and wind damage.
Meanwhile, Mercedes-Benz and Volvo Cars said they resumed operations at their plants in South Carolina.
Rain in some areas of North Carolina from Thursday afternoon through Monday morning totaled more than 20 inches, with one area, Swansboro, getting more than 30 inches, according to preliminary estimates from the National Hurricane Center.
The death toll from the storm had reached at least 18 by Sunday evening, several news outlets and The New York Times reported. Power was out to hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses, although restoration efforts were making progress.
Rising water had caused extensive damage to Riverside Chrysler-Jeep-Dodge-Ram-Fiat in New Bern, N.C., said Lee Midgett, general sales manager at the Riverside Ford dealership. A nearby creek had flooded, sending water into the rear parking lot and the store. High winds blew in a service center’s garage door and knocked over several light posts, but did not damage any vehicles.
Staff planned to return to the dealership Monday, but the flood damage could be worse than expected, Midgett said. “Currently, the Riverside New Bern location is counting their inventory loss, but if I had to guess how much they lost, I would say up to half of our inventory,” Midgett said. Riverside Ford, about 15 miles away, received only cosmetic damage.
Elsewhere in New Bern, Trent Cadillac remained above floodwaters, but high winds collapsed the store’s front sign, damaging about 10 vehicles, said General Manager Jeff Mooring.
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“We did only lose a few cars in inventory and consider ourselves lucky,” Mooring said.
The storm, which came ashore Friday as a slow-moving Category 1 hurricane, made a mess of many parts of Wilmington, N.C., said Donald Latham, who owns the Parkway of Wilmington group of stores there.
In Latham’s neighborhood, there are two routes in and out, and both had downed trees across the roads over the weekend. “So it took two to three days for me to even get out,” he said. During a brief drive past his stores Sunday, Latham said he saw little damage.
“One store I have to replace the carpet, pretty sure,” Latham said. “Honestly, as far as the leaking goes, they’re traditional flat roofs [on the stores]. They’re going to leak a little.”
He hadn’t yet been inside the stores Sunday, but said “the cars appear to be fine.” He was fortunate that his dealerships have few trees around them, he said. “We got lucky — like really, really lucky.”
Other disruptions
Florence’s disruption of the auto industry went beyond retail. The Mercedes-Benz Vans plant near Charleston, S.C., closed since Tuesday, was operating normally Monday after receiving “minimal” impact, a company spokeswoman wrote in an email.
Volvo Car Group last week also idled operations at its new plant near Charleston. A company spokesman said there was no major damage, and operations resumed Monday.
The Port of Charleston, where BMW exports South Carolina-made crossovers, was operating a normal schedule Monday after closing Thursday and Friday in anticipation of Florence.
The storm stayed farther north than expected, leaving the port unscathed.
Truck gates were open at container and breakbulk terminals, including those for autos, and vessel operations have resumed, the South Carolina Ports Authority said in an advisory. Intermodal ramps for the Norfolk Southern and CSX railroads, as well as the inland port in Greer, also had reopened.
Logistics problems
Shippers also faced potential truck transport delays as flooding had closed major highways in southern, central and eastern North Carolina. The state Department of Transportation was warning drivers to avoid several major highways. Some sections of Interstate 95, the major north-south artery along the Eastern Seaboard, and Interstate 40 were flooded on Monday.
For retailers, the aftermath of Florence is expected to linger.
“Everybody keeps thinking that Monday it’s over and we’re going to be able assess the damage and move on,” said E. Sims Floyd, executive vice president of the South Carolina Automobile Dealers Association. “We’ll be able to assess damage then, but we’re going to feel it for the next 10 days.”
Eric Kulisch contributed to this report.
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