LUMBERTON — As floodwaters recede, the effect Hurricane Matthew has had on businesses in Robeson County is coming into to plain view.

Matthew put thousands on the street, but with the recovery effort pushing forward the business community is getting back on its feet and looking to the future.

One of the most impactful images of businesses struggling after the rain was that of car lots and their merchandise drowning under feet of water. In Lumberton, Franklin Underwood, general manager at Dobbs’ Enterprise on West Fifth Stree, said Monday that the business lost 50 cars to the storm. However, the business will continue and employees were set to get back to work today.

“We will just rebuild and and go from there,” Underwood said.

Any cars not totaled will be sold on by the dealership labeled as water damaged.

“We will probably send them out ourselves because we didn’t have flood insurance,” Underwood said. “We are just going to hull it out (the buildings) and rebuild it. We are starting on it tomorrow. We should be back up within 30 days.”

For car lovers, the sand and shale-covered lot is tough to look at. A convertible Bentley, a Mercedes and several BMWs litter the two-block business.

“We have even got a brand new Corvette, a 2016 with only a hundred miles on it,” Underwood said.

One truck, a Chevrolet, survived the hurricane untouched. The sporty, red pickup is still sitting 3 feet off the ground on a ramp.

“That’s the one that got saved,” Underwood said.

With work set to begin on gutting its offices, Dobbs’ is getting back to work, but not without having to fend off those looking to make a quick buck.

“We’ve had a lot of them, scammers,” Underwood said. “Someone wanted to charge us $25,000 to clear out this building. Another $30,000. I told Mr. Dobbs, why would we pay that when we are just going to rip it all out.”

Commerce has been affected throughout Lumberton, with some businesses temporarily closed, some uncertain on when and if they will open and others just doing the best they can.

Lumberton’s boil-water advisory has had a big effect on restaurants.

On Sunday, Ruby Tuesday on West Fifth Street was open, but with a limited menu, allowing only orders of hamburgers and steaks. Its signature salad bar wasn’t stocked. Nearby, McDonald’s early morning customers were disappointed to learn they couldn’t enjoy their favorite wake-up beverage, whether it was regular cup of coffee or a latte.

Across town, Shoney’s was serving, but not all the items that were typically at the buffet were available, and customers had to be satisfied with water and no ice for a beverage. Pleasant Pizza out on Fayetteville Road was open, but only to take-out customers.

Susan Hickman, who recently closed her downtown restaurant, has had a difficult time securing permits needed to open her new one, Candy Sue’s Cafe, at 1801 N. Pine St. because of the lack of water.

“We were only a day away from opening,” Hickman said. “Because we had projected heavy sales for opening week we had a large amount of food prepared at the time of the storm. We were fortunate to have generators available to save almost all of it and had a very large amount of water we saved to cook with. We were able in the very early stages to provide food to folks that had nothing.”

But she soon fell victim to circumstances.

” Because we didn’t have a permanent food permit at the time of the storm, we were not able to get a temporary permit due to the water boil restriction,” she said. “We are waiting anxiously to get all precautions lifted but at the same we do not want to risk any safety issues that may come from contaminated water. … I cannot say enough of praise for our community and its leaders for restoring our city back to some glimpse of normalcy after what we have all experienced.”

Some Robeson businesses, homeowners’ and renters may be eligible for disaster-assistance in the form of loans from the U.S. Small Business Administration. Robeson County is eligible for both Physical and Economic Injury Disaster Loans from the SBA.

Businesses and nonprofits can apply for up to $2 million to repair or replace damaged real estate, machinery, equipment and inventory. Economic Injury Disaster Loans are available even if the business did not have physical damage.

Homeowners can apply for up to $200,000 to repair or replace disaster damaged real estate. Homeowners and renters can apply for up to $40,000 to repair or replace damaged personal property including automobiles.

For information, visitsba.gov/disaster, call the FEMA helpline at 800-621-3362 or visit an SBA recovery center. There is one in Fayetteville at 1200 Murchison Road.

Fifty cars at Dobbs Enterprise in Lumberton were destroyed when the Lumber River flooded the lot. Water rose so high that several cars moved and broke through the fence. The business hopes to be open again within 30 days.
https://www.robesonian.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/web1_IMG_1894.jpgFifty cars at Dobbs Enterprise in Lumberton were destroyed when the Lumber River flooded the lot. Water rose so high that several cars moved and broke through the fence. The business hopes to be open again within 30 days.

Fifty cars at Dobbs Enterprise in Lumberton were destroyed when the Lumber River flooded the lot. Water rose so high that several cars moved and broke through the fence. The business hopes to be open again within 30 days.
https://www.robesonian.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/web1_IMG_1896.jpgFifty cars at Dobbs Enterprise in Lumberton were destroyed when the Lumber River flooded the lot. Water rose so high that several cars moved and broke through the fence. The business hopes to be open again within 30 days.
Businesses stuggling to get back on feet

By Michael Gellatly

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Reach Mike Gellatly on Twitter @MikeGellatly. Editor Donnie Douglas and Managing Editor Sarah Willets contibuted to this story.