‘This is the worst.’ Neighbors continuously stranded by washed out bridge in Lincoln County
LINCOLN COUNTY, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — They can’t get anywhere except by walking. A culvert on Amity Road was washed out by heavy rains in January, and a temporary bridge was put in place.
Neighbors say this is the fourth time the temporary bridge has washed out since February, but help is on the way for neighbors.
One woman says her kids had to miss school twice this week and neighbors couldn’t get to work all because a pedestrian bridge is their only way back and forth.
The sound of water gushing from Reed Creek gets neighbors anxious every time.
“Yeah, I got a couple of rivers flowing through my yard,” said Joseph Kunik in a video he recorded during heavy rains this week.
“And a couple of waterfalls,” said Kunik in his video.
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The water was taking over his yard. He knew that would likely mean he and his neighbors would be trapped again with no way to drive and only a pedestrian bridge to cross on Amity Lane.
“There’s a lot of families out here, with kids, elderly, and God forbid we have a fire, or somebody gets sick and really needs an ambulance,” said Kunik.
Earlier this year, Kunik’s friend’s home burned down. Firefighters were delayed getting there after rain washed out the culvert in January stranding neighbors since the road is their only way in and out.
“We’ve had to fix it, we’ve come in here with rocks and by hand to fix that little road just so we could get back and forth, but this is the worst because of the rain we’ve had the last two days,” said Kunik.
Neither the county, the city of Iron Station, nor the state is responsible for fixing the bridge because it’s a privately owned road.
“They can’t help us out here, it’s sad. I thought we were supposed to love our brothers, our sisters, help each other,” said Kunik.
He has to borrow a neighbor’s truck or have someone pick him up for work.
“My wife is disabled, she needs her medicine, this happened here, thank God there’s people on this side that can help us, go to the store, get her medicine,” said Kunik.
For now, they’re just getting by, waiting for a permanent fix. Lincoln County recently issued a permit to a contractor to build a permanent replacement bridge.
The Mennonite Disaster Services will work on the project. The organization tells Queen City News they plan to start in two weeks, at the end of May, and expect to finish in about a week.
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