Dozens of homes damaged by flooding in Catawba Co.

CATAWBA COUNTY, N.C. — In Catawba County, officials declared a state of emergency Tuesday due to flooding.

Emergency Management officials told Eyewitness News more than 100 homes near Lookout Lake in Claremont were damaged.

Many of those people spent the day Tuesday cleaning up.

"When I first got here, the water was creeping through the yard and I started trying to get as much as I could get," said Ryan Carpenter.

A neighbor called him at work and told him to rush home Monday because of the fast-moving flood waters.  He said in an hour, the waters were in his living room.

He said the waters caused thousands of dollars of damage to his property. He was still unsure Tuesday of the amount of structural damage to his house.

"You gotta rip the insulation and everything out, so it's ruined," he said.

A team of county emergency workers spent the day surveying the damage. So far, they know more than 100 homes in the Carpenter's Cove area were damaged. Nearly three dozen of them were submerged in water.

"It makes my heart ache. These are my neighbors," said Karyn Yaussy, emergency management coordinator for Catawba County.

The county declared a state of emergency and called it the first step in applying for state grants and loans to help people.

They said it could be several weeks before people learn if they qualify.

WSOC