Residents evacuated from knee-deep floodwaters at Chapel Hill apartment complex known for frequent flooding

Residents were knee-deep in floodwaters Tuesday night at the Camelot Village apartment complex off Estes Drive.

This is an area that frequently sees flooding because of a creek in the middle of the complex.

Knowing I'm at a low level, flood level, knowing that it's probably going to flood again, it's prep," Hurlburt said. "[The] Boy Scout motto: Always be prepared."

"A lot of us live here on a budget, whether you're disabled, low-income or something like that," he said.

WRAL News got video from from a woman who lives in a ground floor apartment that showed how bad the flooding was inside her home.

We also got a look at the inside of an apartment where the damage was much worse. You could see a bedroom and items submerged in water.

"I don't want to ever go through that again, never in my life," said Vanessa Byrd, a resident. "Something needs to be done about that. It's hard to find places to live. The rent is so high, and this is the best that I could do as far as my funds."

Judy Batista's mother bought her condo about two years ago. She had to be evacuated by canoe on Tuesday night.

"Some of the strategies that they've used of bringing sandbags, like, that's just not working," Batista said.

Batista wants to see more action from the local governments.

"For us, as daughters, it's devastating to know that we have to constantly ... the moment it starts raining, we have to be on alert," Batista said.

The property manager, Barbara Duffy, tells WRAL News the homeowners association paid for rooms for 14 residents evacuated Tuesday night.

"The residents here are absolutely resilient," Duffy said. "They're lovely people.

"This is probably the last bastion of affordable housing in Orange County, and so, I explained to the board, we have a moral imperative to help these people."