By Catherine M. Welch
Wilmington, NC – The National Weather Service says a second crest will push the Cape Fear River a foot above the flood stage from the Bladen-Columbus County line to Elizabethtown late Wednesday afternoon.
The Nor'easter that pushed through the region last week left behind rivers that jumped their banks in Robeson, Duplin and Pender counties.
And as the northeast Cape Fear River falls in Pender County, National Weather Service Hydrologist Rick Newhurtz says this second crest will send the Cape Fear and Lumber rivers back onto roads.
He says second crests happen frequently although this one is a bit different.
The issue we have around here is usually you'll have additional rainfall in between crests so that the secondary crest gets masked by the local flow coming from the new rainfall, so you won't often see it.
Newhurtz says a second crest for the Lumber River started last night that could send the river three feet over the flood stage.