It has been a bit of feast or famine in the rainfall department across Sampson County this week, as reports of rainfall have varied from one day to the next, from one area of the county to another.

While most everyone has seen some rain, there are areas that still need additional moisture if drought is to be avoided, agriculture officials said.

Kent Wooten of the N.C. Cooperative Extension Office said the rain has been sporadic throughout the county.

“The northwestern portion of the county has possibly seen more rainfall than other parts of the county. There are some areas that have had good rain but there are others in that region that still can kick dust,”acknowledged Wooten.

Wednesday’s rain that was prevalent in Clinton and eastward left little more than a sprinkle in the western portions of the county.

Lin Reynolds with the Department of Transportation reported that his department did see flooding on N.C. 403 near Hargrove School and on Governor Moore Road.

“Those two areas tend to be low lying areas and are subject to flooding, particularly when they receive as much rain as they were blasted with on Wednesday. Fortunately there was not road damage caused by the downpour. Citizens to the south may experience some flooding as early as Friday afternoon as the rain flows south to places such as Ivanhoe,” asserted Reynolds.

Wooten also shared that most areas in the county had seen at least one inch and some places had received as much as 3 or 3 inches.

“It has been hit or miss as it commonly is with rainfall this time of year in Sampson County. The rain that fell Wednesday afternoon fell primarily from north of Clinton east to Duplin County. And it was a fairly significant amount of rain that fell,” stated the extension agent.

Continued cloudy skies threatened rain Thursday afternoon, but no significant rain fell before press time.

Newton Grove mayor Gerald Darden reported Thursday that his rain gauge showed that they received between 0.7 to 0.8 inches of rain on Wednesday. Autryville mayor Pat Williams shared that while they only received about 0.25 inches Wednesday they had a much more significant rainfall on Tuesday. Harrells did not experience much rain on Wednesday with town clerk Cindy Ezzell reporting that about 0.25 inches of rain fell. A Delway resident reported only 0.5 inches on Wednesday but shared that on Tuesday he received about 3.5 inches of rain. In Turkey, a clerk at the Scotchman shared that they received at least 2 or more inches of rain on Wednesday. In the Plainview area, it was reported that nearly 0.2 inches has fallen each night since Monday.

Clinton Public Works reported that at the waste water plant a total of 0.6 inches fell on Wednesday.

With rain still in the forecast, the county could expect to add to the rainfall totals before the current conditions change to a drier weather pattern, expected this weekend when cloudy skies give way to more sun and a return to temperatures in the mid to upper 90s.