DAVIDSON COUNTY, N.C. — Rising waters left some in Davidson county stranded and not able to drive home. Fast-moving floodwaters that drained into a creek left Stonegate Drive extensively damaged and impassable.
Neighbors said the privately owned road split into two during heavy downpours Wednesday night.
"We had been on the road just 20 minutes before the road collapsed. So, I was very grateful that we were not involved in that," Sue Landres said. Landres is from one of the two families now cut off from the rest of the neighborhood. Her son said he was worried when he saw the fast-moving water overwhelm the road.
"We stopped and we said, 'OK what's going on,' and we get out there and we see something over the road and it's all this water we didn't want to take the chance because you know six inches of water can move a car," Alden Landres said.
That decision to stop appeared to be a good call and may have saved the Landres' lives because he said moments later he saw the road collapse.
"We waited to kind of see what was happening and all of a sudden we hear a crumbling sound and this whole half of the road opens up like a sinkhole and it goes right in," he said.
Luckily, some of the residents had not returned home from work when the road collapsed. When they did return, they had to park their cars and walk over a small patch of the road that was left. However, that patch was also washed away by Thursday morning. Using old wooden pallets, one neighbor decided to build a bridge over the displaced culvert so folks could walk across the creek.
"There was no way, so I decided OK I'll get some old skids back there, cut them into sections and me and him, we just carried them out and built that (bridge) in about three hours," Lou Sayphareth said whose house was also cut off.
"This is the only way in and out and I was also thinking of our neighbors because I know they have lives too and I am very grateful that they came out and did a lot with building the bridge," said Sue Landres.
The road is a private road so the homeowners are responsible for getting it repaired. One of the homeowners said they got a quote of $30,000 to repair the road but said none of them could afford that amount.
