There is no way for one not intimately involved to really appreciate the magnitude of Floyd's Flood. I used to live in Wilson County, and my farm (that I still own) there was 2/3 under water, from Contentnea creek overflow. Yet we were spared the total misery of Duplin and some other counties. Recovery will be slow and painful. Federal as well as other agencies will have to become financially involved to the extent that they do not even begin to realize. Yet no one outside will ever know the sorrow... But recovery will come, eventually, even as we recovered from the Civil War. One of the long-term aspects, I'm afraid, is that outside capital will be slow to return to invest in the area, and it has long been one of the poorest, financially, in the state...but rich in heritage and people who still live there. Josh Stanton -----Original Message----- From: CTaylor243@aol.com <CTaylor243@aol.com> To: NCDUPLIN-L@rootsweb.com <NCDUPLIN-L@rootsweb.com> Date: Saturday, September 25, 1999 5:21 PM Subject: Please Read and Respond >I am taking the liberty of posting this article to our genealogical list >because I believe in one way or another -- this affects us all. Most of us >have traced our origins to the North Carolina area or have had ancestors pass >through this land. I was horrified by the photo's of old and new coffins >floating and then the destruction to homes and farms. Can you imagine how >life is in this area? I think not. >What can we do? >Demand information and find out from your pastor tomorrow what your >denomination's disaster relief agency's are doing. The Red Cross and other >relief agencies certainly need our support. >Any other suggestions? >Put yourself in the shoes of those you read about: > > >N CAROLINA TURNS INTO '18,000-SQUARE MILE CESSPOOL' > >The viscous soup of floodwater, sewage, hog waste, animal and human >carcasses, chemicals, gasoline, fertilizer, pesticides and other pollutants >churns in Roseboro, N.C -- more than a week after Hurricane Floyd passed >through. > >"Floyd has created a public health threat unprecedented in the region," >reports Sunday's PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, "and any day now, on the surface of >this 18,000-square-mile cesspool, billions of mosquitoes will begin to >hatch." > >The paper's Richard Lezin Jones reports: "At week's end, epidemiologists, >health and environmental officials were expressing concern about the >possibility of an outbreak of gastrointestinal and other diseases, such as >pathogenic e. coli, caused by contaminated drinking water." > >A letter to the DRUDGE REPORT says too much about the disaster: > >Dear Mr. Drudge, > >The enormity of the calamity that has stricken eastern North Carolina is not >comprehended by the national media, federal government officials or American >citizens in general. > >My town of New Bern, NC, was one of the few east of I-95 spared by most of >the mind-boggling levels of flooding in the aftermath of Hurricanes Dennis >and Floyd. But from my vantage point, I see a level of destruction and >suffering throughout the Coastal Plain region of the state that is >indescribable. > >The flood has been categorized by government officials and by meteorologists >and other scientists as a 500-year or 1,000-year flood. Ironically, most of >the areas swamped by the deluge are not even in so-called "flood plains." > >The flood is evolving into a catastrophe of Biblical proportions. As the >waters slowly subside over the eastern section of the state, corpses are >being discovered in buildings, automobiles, trees, etc. You can expect the >official death toll to climb in coming days and weeks as thousands of square >miles of submerged towns and rural areas emerge from the slowly waning flood. > >In addition, millions of drowned farm animals and hundreds of millions of >gallons of animal manure spilled from the waste pits of giant hog and poultry >factories combined with unprecedented spills of petroleum products, chemicals >and assorted toxic substances may well result in an unimaginable >environmental disaster. > >The destruction suffered by industry, agriculture and other enterprises; the >loss of wages as a result of flooded factories and businesses; and the damage >to highways, bridges, water plants, utility plants and other infrastructure >may well be in the tens of billions of dollars. > >Tens of thousands of the people who survived, including those in shelters as >well as those in residences isolated by surrounding flood waters, are living >like third-world refugees and peasants. When the waters recede, their >existence will continue to be pitiful because much of eastern North Carolina >will be like a war-ravaged wasteland for months or even years. > >Billions of dollars and untold military manpower and assets have been >committed by the United States to remote countries all over the world in >recent years for political, economic and security reasons. I fail to >comprehend why a massive effort on a similar scale isn't under way at this >moment to help relieve the misery, bring about stability, safety and >sanitation, and assist with the recovery and reconstruction of a region of >the American South that is undergoing human suffering on a scale not seen >since the Civil War. > >The purpose of this message is to bring this desperate situation to your >attention. In my opinion, the response of federal agencies to this enormous >and ongoing tragedy has been too slow and too meager. I suspect this is >because the responsible authorities, though well-meaning, have yet to grasp >the apocalyptic scale of the flood and the incredible consequences that are >only now becoming apparent. > >If you decide to research the situation, as I hope you will, please get your >information from the local broadcast and print media in eastern North >Carolina, not from the national media. The national media has attempted to >frankly report the flooding but they tend to focus on the dire straits of a >single town or area without imparting to the public the overwhelming reality >that the disaster afflicting the locality they are reporting from is >duplicated in towns, villages and farmlands that cover a third of the entire >state. > >Eastern North Carolina needs help much more rapidly, on a scale far more >massive and with a sense of urgency far more acute than what seems to be >coming forth so far. Please help get the word out, Drudge. > >Respectfully, > >New Bern, NC > >______________________________