Isabel

SOUTH RIVER - Five years ago, Dollie Carraway lost a lifetime of memories.

Heirloom furniture, children's grade-school drawings and her son's letters from Vietnam were destroyed when Hurricane Isabel flooded the South River on Sept.18, 2003. More than eight inches of water invaded Joel and Dollie Carraway's home on South River Road.

"The worst part for me was having to take out the furniture," she said. "I'd had it for 58 years - ever since we were married. When they started taking it out, it was so hard."

Residents of Carteret County's South River community remember Isabel not for its high winds but for its fierce flooding. The Category 2 hurricane whipped up a 12-foot storm surge, causing the worst water damage recorded in the area since the 1933 Outer Banks hurricane.

Six houses and nearly a dozen mobile homes were condemned after the storm. Many others sustained structural damage, and some homeowners decided to build on raised foundations to safeguard against future flooding.

Joel and Dollie Carraway had evacuated and were staying with their son in Fayetteville when Isabel churned up the South River. They returned on Sept. 19 with another son, Rick, who lives in Morehead City.

"When I got to the house, there was no outside damage, but when I opened the door, water ran out," said Rick Carraway. "For the first two or three days, we just ripped up carpet, got the wet stuff out and just literally threw it in the front yard."

Family friends and emergency volunteers from the Salvation Army helped the couple and their son pick through the waterlogged home. Rolls of damp carpet, a ruined recliner, mattresses and stacks of cardboard boxes were placed in the front yard.

"We started taking out the wet furniture and the books, salvaging what we can," Rick Carraway remembered. "We went through a lot of memories. We saved a lot, and some we didn't."

He credits the beaded pine ceiling and walls with keeping the house livable. Conventional insulation, he said, "soaks up water like a sponge" and would have required replacement.

Relatives and neighbors pitched in. Churches opened their doors and offered hot meals while electric service was out. The Merrimon-South River Volunteer Fire Department became a refuge.

"It really brought the community real close together because we'd all go down to eat together" at the Methodist church, Dollie Carraway said."After the Salvation Army left, we had to have water and cleaning supplies. You could go there and get what you needed to clean your house."

The Carraways, who did not have flood insurance when Isabel hit, spent about $10,000 to repair their home and replace damaged belongings. The Federal Emergency Management Agency offered a home refinancing loan, but Joel Carraway owned his home outright and did not want a monthly mortgage payment.

"With these older people, it did a lot to them," Rick Carraway said. "It aged them years to have to rebuild their homes. Most of these people had lived in those houses their whole married lives."

The modest bungalows that still dot South River are relics of a time when families would build their own homes, expanding and improving when time and money allowed. Many of the sturdy structures withstood a half-century or more of storms without flooding.

"We've been here 60 years," Dollie Carraway said. "It's the first time water has ever been in this house."

Many South River residents raised their homes on concrete blocks, whether self-financed or assisted by FEMA or Carteret County money. The Carraways didn't modify their foundation, but Joel Carraway did agree to buy homeowners' insurance and flood insurance at his son Rick's urging.

"He had no insurance, but now he does - house and flood insurance," Rick Carraway said. "I convinced him he needed to do that. We were really lucky. Other people lost just about everything."