Low-lying areas and western Beaufort County are at risk of continued flooding, likely into next week.

“We’ve got to continue to monitor the water. We’re doing it very carefully. The water is going up and down, up and down on U.S. (Highway) 264 today, along Tranter’s Creek and up Aggie’s Run,” said John Pack, Beaufort County’s emergency-management director, Tuesday afternoon. “We got the report today that it will be several weeks before Cherry Run Road is open at the bridge site at Aggie’s Run. It’s going to require more than just minor reconstruction.”

The second round of flooding comes on the heels of Hurricane Matthew, a category 1 hurricane that swept up the Carolina coast on Saturday and into Sunday, dumping between 5 and 12 inches of rain across a region already saturated by a year of unusually heavy rainfall.

As of Tuesday afternoon, Pack said, forecasters were calling for the Pamlico River and Tranter’s Creek to crest late Wednesday. “It’s anticipated … that the water will remain high until Sunday to Monday. Hopefully, by Sunday or Monday, we’ll see it drain out of the VOA Road area,” Pack said.

Casey Dail, a forecaster with the National Weather Service in Morehead City, said there will be minor rises on the Pamlico River  — that the more serious flooding will occur up the Tar River before the Washington U.S. Highway 17 Business bridge.

“At this time, we’re not expecting anything significant (in Washington). … Certainly not anything as significant as we saw this past weekend,” Dail said. “As the river widens out, we think it should be able to take what’s coming down from upstream.”

“The waterfront is probably going to have some flooding over the rest of this week, and it’s going to rise and fall, rise and fall,” said Lisa Respess Williams, emergency services specialist with Beaufort County Emergency Management. “As water makes its way down the watershed, you know, we’re going to see flood levels rise and fall periodically — it depends on the tides.”

“It’s very much a ‘wait and see,’ and the areas that we feel like are going to be most impacted are the areas to the west that border Pitt County,” Williams said.

Some of the areas of concern are VOA Road, Cherry Run Road, Tranter’s Creek, Tranter’s Run and River Bluff, she said, while farther out in the county, low-lying areas in Aurora, Belhaven, Pamlico Beach and Pantego could also see flooding in the next few days.

“If you flooded in Floyd or Irene, you have the potential to flood this time. We’re advising people to keep an eye on it. We don’t really know exactly, particularly in Aurora. But the best thing they can do is keep an eye on it and be prepared to leave if they need to. … But bottom line, if anybody feels like they need leave, I don’t want to encourage them to stay. If they feel more comfortable evacuating, then we certainly want them to go to a shelter.”

Williams said residents who can’t get out of where they are due to high water, or are cut off, can contact emergency management for assistance. Emergency management has also set up distribution sites where residents affected by the flood can pick up MREs (meals-ready-to-eat) and bottled water. Those sites are located at: 230 N. Fifth St. (next to the post office), Aurora; and City of Washington and Town of Chocowinity, in the parking lot behind 840 W. 15th St. in Washington.

For more information, call Beaufort County Emergency Management at 252-946-2046.