Troops providing aid in storm-ravaged Lumberton
LUMBERTON – Floodwaters have turned this community in Robeson County into a divided city.
Neighborhoods under upwards of 3 feet of water — including some still reeling from Hurricane Matthew two years ago — are effectively cut off from the rest of Lumberton.
But as the city starts a long road to recovery from the deluge left by Tropical Storm Florence, teams of North Carolina National Guard and 101st Airborne Division soldiers are working with local first responders to keep the community together.
More than 130 soldiers, based out of an armory on Fayetteville Road, have provided state and local law enforcement and other officials with access to the hardest hit parts of the city.
As night fell Tuesday, Lumberton police officers and others loaded into light medium tactical vehicles alongside soldiers to begin their patrols.
The trucks, large enough to pass through water that would otherwise cripple a vehicle, toured areas most ravaged by the storm, allowing officers to conduct wellness checks, look for signs of possible looting, enforce a curfew and search for stranded motorists.
The streets they traveled often looked more like rivers than asphalt, with choppy waters lapping at the sides of homes and businesses.
Partially submerged vehicles dotted the route, signs of ill-fated attempts to get out of the flooded areas.
Across North Carolina, thousands of service members are conducting similar missions, allowing local officials access to a network of more than 1,000 roads that have been closed by floodwaters and other storm-related damage.
According to the North Carolina Department of Transportation, more than 2,200 people have been rescued from those roadways.
In Lumberton, soldiers with the NCNG’s 1st Battalion, 120th Infantry Regiment, 30th Armored Brigade Combat Team have been on state active duty for roughly a week.
Lt. Col. Ben Wynn, the battalion commander, said the soldiers have been running 24-hour operations in support of relief efforts, which include wellness patrols, resupplying shelters and rescuing stranded citizens.
“Right across the street, we were going through picking people up from their homes,” Wynn said. “And it’s still happening. The water hasn’t gone down much.”
“The cleanup is going to take a long time,” he added.
The 1st Battalion, 120th Infantry Regiment is based in Wilmington. And it has company headquarters in Jacksonville, Lumberton and several other communities devastated by Florence.
“Many of our soldiers live in the areas impacted by the storm,” Wynn said.
And now, some of those same soldiers are taking part in relief efforts, with more than 250 members of the battalion spread across sites in Robeson, Bladen and Columbus counties.
Those soldiers received a boost Monday, when reinforcements from the 101st Airborne Division, based at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, arrived with a fleet of trucks.
The 74th Cargo Transfer Company, 129th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, 101st Airborne Division Sustainment Brigade convoyed with nearly 100 vehicles and 230 soldiers from Kentucky to North Carolina earlier this week.
It took the soldiers two days to reach Fort Bragg, officials said. And they have since pushed out as part of a growing network of relief operations involving hundreds of soldiers from Fort Bragg, Fort Drum in New York and other active-duty military installations.
National Guard soldiers, who have deployed across the state by the thousands, see their active-duty counterparts as a welcome addition to the ongoing relief efforts, soldiers said.
On Tuesday, NCNG and 101st soldiers lived side-by-side on cots in the Lumberton armory. They played cards and waited for haircuts provided by Supreme Cuts of Lumberton.
Capt. Andy Stacy, commander of A Company, 1st Battalion, 120th Infantry Regiment, said the ongoing mission isn’t easy, but it’s worth it.
Stacy’s company is based in Jacksonville and has many soldiers who live in Wilmington and parts of Onslow County. Some of them have lost their homes to the storm, he said.
The NCNG soldiers who have responded to relief efforts come largely from areas that escaped Florence unscathed, such as communities west of Interstate 95 or in and around Raleigh.
But Stacy said the soldiers are fully engaged in helping their fellow citizens.
“It’s hard to see your fellow North Carolinians impacted like this,” he said. “We’re here to help.”
Two blocks from the armory, more than 700 people were temporarily living in a shelter at Lumberton High, part of the estimated 1,200 residents now spread across six shelters in Robeson County.
Stacy said he has never done anything like this before. His past deployments have been to Iraq, Afghanistan and Jordan.
But in this mission, there is no enemy. Only people in need.
“This isn’t a hostile environment,” he said. “The people are glad to see us. And we can help them.”
Military editor Drew Brooks can be reached at dbrooks@fayobserver.com or 910-486-3567.