Family-owned business recovering after Hurricane Florence

SHALLOTTE, NC (WECT) –

Hurricane Florence shut down Shallotte for days, now months of recovery lie ahead.

But one thing doesn’t stop: families have to pay rent, bills and put food on the table. One family-owned business is working to clean up quickly.

Shallotte Electric is back in business after Florence.

“Our staff has been working so hard the last few days, we couldn’t do anything without them,” said Justin Milliken, of Shallotte Electric. “We got to take care of them no matter what.”

Four days with no business at all, but they made progress on Tuesday and Wednesday and are opening back up. 

“This business supports 40 families, so it’s going to be tough to make payroll for 40 families and nobody’s able to work right now,” Milliken said.

Days of rainfall led to flooding, causing damage to the business. But two days later, they’ve got everything back up and running. 

Major preparations were made prior to the storm by moving inventory, because Hurricane Floyd devastated them almost two decades ago. 

“This is Hurricane Floyd 1999,” Milliken said. “It was actually 19 years to the day and they said that Hurricane Floyd was a 100-year or 1,000-year storm, and we had another one in 19 years.”

Despite their difficulties, Shallotte Electric has helped neighbors and crews working.

“We’ve helped people with generators, we’ve helped people with fresh water, with clothes, boots, you’d be surprised just what a dry pair of shoes can do for somebody,” Milliken said.

Businesses are drying out after the dark days of Florence.

Thankfully, Shallotte Electric has insurance. There are 13 other businesses in that shopping center that also dealt with flooding.

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