LUMBERTON — The Lumber River will be double-teamed when work to clean the waterway in Robeson County of debris and fallen trees begins Monday.
Two contractors will be handling the project, said Lucas Baxley, district technician for the Robeson County Soil and Water Conservation District. One will work from a point near the Campbell Soup facility near Maxton and work toward Lumberton. The other contractor will start where the Big Swamp enters the Lumber River near Boardman, at the Columbus and Robeson county line, and work to where Lowe Road crosses the river, a location west of Interstate 95.
“Praise the Lord! It’s about time,” Lumberton Mayor Bruce Davis said Friday.
For years, area residents have pointed to the river and said if it wasn’t so clogged with debris it wouldn’t flood so bad or as often, he said. Of course, there is no way to tell how much of a difference in terms of flooding cleaning the debris out will make.
“But, it can’t hurt,” Davis said.
If nothing else, cleaning out the river will make it a better resource for fishing and other recreational activities, he said.
“I’ve fished it all my life,” the mayor said.
And the river can be hard to fish because of all of the debris in it, he said. The debris also can make it hard to enjoy recreational boating.
“I think it will be worth all the effort they are putting in to it,” Davis said.
The effort will be divided into six sections, Baxley said. Each contractor will be responsible for three sections. The contractors will remove debris and fallen trees.
“They will cut down trees that are leaning toward the river and could fall during the next major storm,” Baxley said.
The river will not be dredged to make it deeper or wider.
“That would involve getting the Army Corps involved again,” Baxley said. “And that is something we don’t want to do again.”
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had to issue a permit for the work that begins Monday, he said. The Corps has guidelines for what can be done to the Lumber River because the river is classified as a scenic and historic waterway.
Baxley said he was unclear about the total cost to clean the roughly 80 miles of river that flows through Robeson County, but the section between Boardman and Lowe Road will cost about $457,000. He is certain all the money to pay for the project is coming from the state government, and he is certain how the money was obtained.
“This money was sought entirely by this office,” Baxley said.
How long the project takes to complete depends on the weather and water level, he said. There is no set deadline.
To his knowledge, such a project has never before been undertaken on the Lumber River.
“This will by no means prevent floods, but it will improve the flow of the water,” Baxley said.
And better water flow can help reduce the severity of a flood, he said. But, if the flow of water in the Lumber River in South Carolina slows dramatically or backs up because debris is impeding the water, or for any other reason, that can cause water to back up in North Carolina and Robeson County and cause flooding or increase the severity of flooding.
Flooding from the river occurred following hurricanes Matthew in 2016 and Florence in 2018, when those storms dropped as many as 18 to 24 inches of rain in one day during Matthew and three during Florence. Flooding occurred throughout the county, but was the worst in Lumberton, which is dissected by the river.
South Lumberton and West Lumberton were hardest hit, with hundreds of businesses and homes destroyed. Both communities have suffered a loss in population as a result.
