Reports of as much as 10 inches of rain in the Colerain area on Tuesday and into Wednesday morning has prompted North Carolina DOT to close several roads in that part of Bertie County.

Bertie’s Emergency Management Director Mitch Cooper told the R-C News-Herald this morning (Wednesday) that the following roads are closed due to wash-outs and/or high water:

Buncombe Road

Nowell Farm Road

Quebec Road

Cooper added that a portion of Wakelon Road, located between Todd’s Crossroads and Bakertown Road (better known as the Flat Swamp area), was experiencing flooding.

“We’ve had two motorists to become stranded there this morning due to high water,” Cooper said. “In both cases we were able to use a high clearance vehicle to go in and get them out.”

Due to the floodwaters in the Colerain area, a decision was made earlier this morning to close all Bertie County Public Schools. Lawrence Academy in Merry Hill also closed for the day on Wednesday.

A scheduled session of Bertie County District Court on Wednesday has been postponed.

Bertie County local government offices in Windsor are expected to open at 10 a.m. despite localized street flooding occurring there Wednesday morning.

“We’re fine overall; just some flash flooding issues on a couple of our streets,” said Windsor Police Chief Todd Lane shortly after 10 a.m. Wednesday morning. “We’re marking those streets off now.”

Cooper said the heavy rain, which is coming from a former tropical system that was off the coast of Georgia last week, is expected to subside today.

“Our forecast is still calling for more rain today, but without all those prolonged heavy downpours,” Cooper said. “As of this morning we’re starting to see some of the water levels go down.”

Cooper urged motorists, particularly those in and around the Colerain area, to use extreme caution while driving.