County assessment teams began surveying damage and the Roanoke Rapids Sanitary District began repairing broken lines at Franklin and Second Streets that led to the collapse of the road there Saturday morning.

Officials say rough estimates show anywhere from 20 to 80 houses and businesses have the potential for damage.

Five teams of two people were sent out to assess the damage, Roanoke Rapids Police Department Deputy Chief Tommy Hathaway said. A state damage assessment team will be in the city Monday, he said.

The county assessment team is looking at homes, businesses, roadways and bridges. They will not be looking at vehicle or outbuilding damages.

Franklin Street.

At Franklin Street Apartments this morning, Jim Garrett and Clint Jones were repairing damage to the bottom two apartments where 18 inches of water seeped in. “We’re cutting sheet rock out and will have to put in new insulation in,” Garrett said.

In the 25 years Garrett has owned the apartment building, it has never experienced flooding.

“We’ve never had water inside of this building,” Jones said.

Just across from where the section of Franklin Street collapsed, Garrett said that destruction might have spared the apartment further damage.

Repair work at Franklin Street Apartments.

The people living in the bottom apartments lost everything, Garrett said. One tenant had renters insurance while the other didn’t.

Garrett said the flooding caught everyone by surprise. “This is a low area. Until you can prevent flooding, I’m not sure you can do anything.”

Garrett said the repairs would probably cost $10,000 to $15,000. Two cars at the apartment were also flooded.

City Manager Joseph Scherer and Public Works Director Larry Chalker were watching the repair of the broken lines on Franklin Street and had also visited Rochelle Pond.

“Everything worked as it should,” Scherer said of Rochelle Pond, whose real function is to serve as a storm water retaining basin.

Chalker said contractors would have to do the street repair work on Franklin, which was already slated for repairs in the city’s capital improvement budget.

Chalker said Rochelle Pond showed no damage except some erosion.