After the flooding from Tropical Storm Chantal, Fleet Maintenance Supervisor David Wisely and his two-person team looked around the town’s public works yard to see what they could salvage. 

When we got down to the yard, the first thing I thought was, ‘Wow, I’ve never seen this before,’ Wisely said.

The town’s public works yard, which straddles the Eno River’s 100- and 500-year floodplains, had flooded before. But, in Wisely’s 22 years with the town, none compared to the floodwaters Chantal left July 6 and 7 in Hillsborough.

The next step was figuring out how quickly we could get those vehicles out of there to get them repaired, Wisely said. We wanted to get everything that had a chance of running out of the yard, just in case the water rose again.

Getting to Work

The fleet maintenance operations team waited 2½ hours for the floodwaters to recede July 7 before they were able to tow the vehicles from the flooded public works yard to the Highway 86 North Facility, where the fleet mechanics operate.

The three people in the town’s fleet maintenance team have always been the surgeons who get key equipment back in operation when unexpected breakdowns occur, Town Manager Eric Peterson said.

David, Darren and Frank took their usual stellar performance to a higher level after Chantal. Their rapid response, including assessing and triaging the equipment, and then immediately diving into repairs was critical in saving multiple pieces of equipment — all while dodging snakes that were dropping out from under vehicles, Peterson said. In addition, all their work allowed departments to generate short-term solutions to continue to deliver service to residents.

At the fleet maintenance facility, Wisely and fleet mechanics Darren Koch and Frank Moore began draining water and oil out of the vehicles and equipment — considering all points of water intrusion: the engine, transmission, differential and hydraulics.

After changing the oil, the fleet team ran the engines on the vehicles and equipment for a short time, and then they changed the oil again. They also worked to dry out electrical equipment.

Six damaged vehicles were able to be temporarily repaired and returned to crews during the initial response to the storm. Many of the smaller pieces of equipment that were on the town’s vehicles, like string trimmers and asphalt tampers, were able to be dried and repaired.

I was hopeful that we would be able to save some of the vehicles, but they’ve returned to us for different reasons, Wisely said of the six repaired vehicles.

He noted that the repaired vehicles had developed new issues related to the flooding after being repaired, including issues with the computer and electrical systems and the growth of mold.

Replacing Vehicles

A total of 22 vehicles and pieces of heavy equipment were flooded, including:

• Two trash trucks 
• Three dump trucks 
• Both of the town’s brush trucks 
• The town’s only bucket truck 

On July 16, the Hillsborough Board of Commissioners approved spending about $1 million of the town’s fund balance, or savings, to replace vehicles flooded during the storm.

In that special meeting of the board, Assistant Town Manager Matt Efird said town staff expected additional vehicle and equipment failures as some of the items restored following flooding may not reach their full life expectancy.

Last week, the town insurance provider evaluated vehicles damaged by the tropical storm’s flooding. Any insurance payouts will be returned to the town’s fund balance.

Moving Public Works

Since at least 2016, town leaders have been working to move the Public Works Division out of the Eno River floodplain. Other financial needs of the town caused project delays. Earlier this year, the town began expanding the Highway 86 North Facility to provide space for the Public Works Division and its vehicles. The town is finalizing a lease for temporary facility that the Public Works Division will use while the facility it will share with Fleet Maintenance Operations is under construction. 

Typically, before expected flooding, the Public Works Division moves vehicles out of low areas in the town’s public works yard. The forecasted rainfall of 3 inches would not have posed a threat to the town’s vehicles. The rapid rise of floodwaters made it impossible to move the vehicles when staff returned early Monday morning.