The effects of Hurricane Florence are still being felt in North Carolina, as one community this week announced it will have to tear down its public rec center.
According to the Greenville CBS affiliate, the New Bern Parks and Recreation administration building took on a few inches of water after the storm. Staff had already been working on improvements at the aquatics center for the past six months. After receiving a new paint job, both facilities were able to reopen this week.
The Stanley White Recreation Center, which was substantially damaged by Florence, will not be so lucky. The 18,000-square-foot building was left with more than $600,000 in damage, enough that the facility, which was built in the 1970s, will have to torn down.
"Recreation has changed a lot in those 44 years. So we got to look at our new facility, [and] what are the trends now," said Foster Hughes, director at New Bern Parks and Recreation.
Hughes said he is speaking with the community about what to include in the new facility and that it will be a time-consuming process. In the meantime, the West New Bern Recreation Center is open to the public.
Hurricane Florence made landfall in September of 2018, leaving in its wake an estimated $24 billion in damages.
