When general manager Caitlin Garza opened Crush and Grind coffee shop in Carolina Beach early the morning of Sept. 16, she and owner Dominic DePierro didn’t expect the day to be much different from any other.
As residents, business owners and employees of Carolina Beach know, parts of the town can flood with a normal rain, and having opened for business the year before Hurricane Florence came through, Crush and Grind is familiar with the impact of storms.
Garza said they prepared for maybe three inches of water. DePierro said he never expected to have 30 inches of floodwater in his business later that day due to a once-in-1,000-year rainfall.
Potential Tropical Cyclone Eight battered Carolina Beach and areas of Brunswick County with historic amounts of rain. The unnamed storm flooded businesses, homes and roads. Cleanup is still underway, and work to repair washed out roads continues.
More: Must-see photos and video of tropical weather in the Wilmington area