Just thot y'all'd be interested in the stories we don't see in the news. Yeah...the storm was bad, but this flood is the worst anyone has ever known about. No kidding - the worst in our history. When I cut on the TV, the local CBS affiliate was telling about a 6-member family who drowned while trying to evacuate their home. I don't know if they tried to leave in a vehicle or what - the announcer didn't go into detail; another man in a neighboring community about 10 miles from here would not evacuate - he wanted to stay in his place, and when they found him today, he was dead in his bedroom. But the really bad stuff is all of the local hog, turkey, and chicken farms where all of the animals have drowned and floated away, and all of the lagoons have overflowed their banks, releasing all of the urine/fecal matter into the swamps, creeks, streams, and then into the rivers. Millions of gallons of waste - and the region's cities and towns sewage systems are as bad...we are supposed to chlorinate our water and/or boil it for about 5 minutes before drinking it. Yeah...we're in a sort-of bad situation, and now The Pres is supposed to come down here on Monday. Whoop-de-doo. I'm still sort of up in the air about how I am going to get to New Bern, but I have friends down there who are going to try and find a route for me to follow to get there, and friends up here, too, so hopefully things will work out. Keep your fingers crossed for us down here. Regards, Mary