After Hurricane Matthew damaged his mother's home, 1 North Carolina resident remains hopeful in wake of Florence

LUMBERTON, N.C. (KABC) -- The road into South Lumberton in North Carolina in the aftermath of Florence is still virtually impassable for most cars, but for Darnell Dempsey, not having his car was not a problem.

Dempsey is a runner through rain, shine or flood, so when he couldn't drive to see what kind of damage Florence did to his 85-year-old mother's house, he grabbed his shoes.

His family just finished fixing their mother's home following Hurricane Matthew two years ago, which caused severe damage to the house.

"She's only been back in (her home) three months," Dempsey said. "It's pretty bad."

He ran several miles across a bridge through knee-high water at times to get to the house.

While service trucks drove around town beginning the cleanup process, Darnell ran out of his mother's neighborhood with new hope.

Her house may have been spared.

"May have to replace some ventilation, air conditioning, stuff like that up under the bottom, but looks like thank gosh it might be OK with the floors," Dempsey said.

Dempsey said they'll get to work on his mother's house as soon as they can, and can't wait to get her back in there.

As for the rest of the community, Dempsey knows it remains resilient.

"It's happened before, we just have to rebuild and do it again," Demspey said.