ELIZABETH CITY, NC (WVEC) — Things are going back to normal in Elizabeth City.
Friday evening, the roads were busy with cars out and about. Businesses began reopening and the city's only shelter for evacuees was empty.
People living there were not affected by Florence as they anticipated. Wednesday night, the city was under a Tropical Storm Warning. Heavy rainfall, storm surge, flooding and wind gusts of up to 40 mph were expected in the area.
Melanie Bright woke up at 6 a.m. Friday morning to find her home completely unharmed and flood-free.
"I was expecting to see some flooding downtown, and a lot of trees down and stuff like that," said Bright.
But that never happened. Instead, roads were clear of flooding and it sprinkled on and off Friday. Despite the outcome, she and her family were prepared.
"We put stuff up over the windows cause we were scared the windows were gonna bust, picked up everything around the yard. We even went to the grocery store and bought things for the storm but the storm didn’t come," said Bright.
Another woman evacuated to Elizabeth City to stay with her daughter. She lives in the Outer Banks, where the storm surge forced a shut-down of North Carolina Highway 12 (NC-12).
"I just miss home," she said.
But at the same time, she wondered if her home will still look the same when she returns.
"I don’t even know. Guess we’ll have to look back and look and check."
She said she plans to return home once NC-12 reopens.
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