According to WRAL and weather.com , a
major storm is developing in the Gulf and wll be here, oh, about the time the
first floods have crested a ways downstream.
It's expected to drench the Eastern part of the state again with as much as
another six inches of rain. This is starting to seem biblical. Farming in the
East has been wiped out across the board. Dead animals, hog lagoons and
broken sewage systems are polluting the floodwater and setting the conditions
for disease. The entire city of Greenville went off the grid as the power
source was shorted out by rising waters (go to yahoo and search under
Greenville. No local servers work. It's spooky).
Anyway, it's disaster on disaster if it comes to the East. The
Triangle might have some problems (like Crabtree Creek, for instance) , but not
nearly as much. But Down East they
are still pulling folks off of rooftops and have a ways to go just to account
for everyone. Please do whatever you can to help if the storm comes this way, as
predicted. We remember well the feelings we had after Fran, and
this is much worse than Fran. At least after Fran you could go outside and go
visit your neighbors.
As noted, this side of I-95 hasn't had nearly the pain that the folks on the
other side of 95 have had, and it's hard to realize that such large scale
flooding is as close to the Triangle as Smithfield. But it is and it looks
likely to happen again. This is one of those times when there are no Duke fans,
UNC fans, or State or Wake fans, we're just North Carolinians with some serious
problems. We've always managed to pull together when crises strike,
and no doubt we'll do it again. But the double-whammy just feels exceptionally cruel.
Speaking of serious problems, adding to ours is the imminent visit of the
President, who is due in tomorrow, if we heard correctly, at RDU. In the past he
has consistently come in or left at Rush Hour, which means that the Secret
Service will shut
down I-40. So if you commute on I-40, you might want to read this and keep
an eye on the travel plans.