Governor Jim Hunt 1:13 I'm Governor Jim Hunt. The floodwaters that followed Hurricane Floyd devastated eastern North Carolina. The people of this state and the nation watched this disaster unfold on television, and they responded to our need with tremendous generosity. Millions of dollars have been donated to the Hurricane Floyd relief fund and are already being used to help your neighbors meet basic household needs while they work to put their lives back together. Please join WNCT in their efforts to continue to help those who lost everything. Rebuilding eastern North Carolina is the greatest challenge our state has ever faced, and we have a long road ahead. But throughout this disaster, the people of our state have shown their willingness to pitch in and work together to help each other out. Thank you for continuing that spirit, that spirit of giving that makes eastern North Carolina such a wonderful place to call home. With your help, we will restore the communities and lives destroyed by Hurricane Floyd and we will rebuild eastern North Carolina better than ever before.Unknown Speaker 2:43 It's the worst I've ever seen.Speaker 1 3:07 I thought about trees being across the halfway like with Fran, and, but I just never thought about water.Unknown Speaker 3:32 This is eastern North Carolina folks, and it's for real.Speaker 2 3:37 Wasn't that long ago we were dealing with Dennis, who came to stay.Unknown Speaker 3:40 Boy, he did come to stay. This storm is even more scary.Speaker 3 3:43 A bully named Floyd, twice the size of Florida, threatens to beat up anyone.Unknown Speaker 3:49 Or anything that gets in his way. Starting out as a class 4 hurricane.Speaker 3 3:55 As Floyd bears down on North Carolina, the question is are we ready?Unknown Speaker 4:01 Ready for all hell to break loose.Hurricane Dennis, that was just the start. Now we got Floyd coming. We boarded up this house once it took it down, now I gotta do it again.Speaker 3 4:20 Another hurricane headed our way less than two weeks after Dennis's departure, September 14th, 1999.Unknown Speaker 4:28 We've been here for everyone the last six years, and everybody's told us to definitely leave for this one. Because, they said don't mess around with it.We're packing up, me and the kids. We're going to Raleigh and all.Latonya Nixon-Vines 4:42 Already, the waves are coming perilously close to these homes. Folks aren't messing around this time. They're getting out of Dodge.Unknown Speaker 4:50 It's time to go, I think, you know? Maybe a little bit- maybe a little bit past time to go.The largest weather-related evacuation in U.S. history.Speaker 3 4:58 Heading inland to escape Floyd's fury, cutting short vacation plans, moving up sacred vows.Robin Edwards 5:05 I'm getting married in an hour!Speaker 4 5:09 Here's the bride, here's the groom, here's the plan.Robin Edwards 5:12 Soon as Floyd makes his departure, we're gonna go back to Ocracoke and have a throwdown.Speaker 4 5:19 No one had time for wedding day jitters or even a wedding dress.Robin Edwards 5:23 This is the latest in hurricane wedding attire.Speaker 4 5:27 Robin Edwards, Bobby Turner. The lovebirds had the wedding favors, the band booked, and hotel rooms in Ocracoke for friends and family.Speaker 5 5:35 When I ask you for the ring, then you'll hand me the ring, okay?Margie Kinnear 5:38 Then, this morning, their minister came knocking.Robin Edwards 5:41 Okay, well then I thought I was dreaming, so I roll back over.Speaker 4 5:44 The minister's advice? Go pick up the marriage license, call the friends and put away the fancy dress, let's do this thing at home on the Pamlico River.Unknown Speaker 5:52 You may now kiss your bride.Unknown Speaker 5:59 While the storm brings this couple together,Unknown Speaker 6:02 Rising waters will separate many loved ones.David 6:05 The Neuse River is about 200 yards behind me. Already, there's about two to three inches of water on the ground in this community. Despite the warnings, some of the residents say they're staying.Unknown Speaker 6:16 At this point, I have no other choice.Interviewer 6:19 And why do you say that?Unknown Speaker 6:20 Because, this is my home. I don't have a lot of family here in North Carolina. I'm from up north. And, this is it.Speaker 2 6:30 For some, the decision to stay will prove fatal.Eric Flack 6:33 About 30 minutes ago, the winds really started picking up. It's really really hard at times to keep your balance, even harder than it was before, when you saw me blowing around here an hour ago. What I want to draw your attention to right now, that- see, right there. That water coming on the boat bay, coming over onto the- onto the land here. I can tell you the storm's surge is starting to make a difference. You can see it coming closer to us. In fact at times, where I'm standing, water from this- from the boat bay, will actually come and hit right here. The waves are coming up. I don't know if they're peaking, if they're going back down, but I can tell you- tell you they're getting bigger. At this time, now that we have a little bit of light, I can look around a little bit. I can tell you that things are blowing around. It looks like a hurricane has hit.Speaker 2 7:24 September 16th, water begins to overpower land.Unknown Speaker 7:29 The inland, flooding; the bigger threat.Latonya Nixon-Vines 7:32 Mike, take a look down here. Got a ruler. Kind of flimsy, but we're gonna try to measure, and so, right here at the curb, the ruler is completely covered in water. And this is just here at the curb. It's much deeper down in the- at the intersection.Speaker 6 7:47 Stay home, do not try to venture out in this because it is very serious. Neighborhood Doppler 9 right now, still showing plenty of activity over eastern North Carolina.Latonya Nixon-Vines 7:57 These Winterville residents had no idea they'd be waking up to this. Both sides serve as complements of Winterville Fire and Rescue.Speaker 1 8:05 Eastern North Carolina averages 46 inches of rain a year. So we've had 30 inches in two weeks.Unknown Speaker 8:16 Too much to handle, hard times fall on eastern Carolina as Hurricane Floyd moves out to sea.Speaker 2 8:24 The full measure of Floyd's fury begins to rise and rise.Unknown Speaker 8:29 No one was prepared, we got people up. Just grabbing what they can tote in the hands, is all that some- some people say.I'm dredged up to my chest. I'm getting stuff out. Y'all get over here.The call for help, just in time for some church members.Speaker 4 8:44 They had one way out and you're looking at it.Unknown Speaker 8:47 I've never in my life rode a boat before, but I had to take a chance to get out of the water. We was almost sinking in the church.Speaker 4 8:54 Triumph Missionary Baptist Church, an island surrounded by faith.Speaker 4 9:00 Another 10 feet over, and we'd be shoulder deep. Thirty-plus church members came here last night because they say this is the place where they feel safe.Unknown Speaker 9:11 So the guys came- it's moving, then I looked for the back. Looked like a [catch] coming out the graveyard.Back on solid ground.Interviewer 9:20 That yellow line means a lot now, does it?Unknown Speaker 9:21 Yes, I was scared.Speaker 2 9:24 Eastern North Carolina, scared and surrounded.Unknown Speaker 9:31 I'm really scared right now. Everything I own is about to go underwater.Before daybreak, September 17th.Unknown Speaker 9:52 The sound of help on its way.Unknown Speaker 9:56 I thought the world was coming to end, all that. Well, I never seen so much water in my life!We just felt so trapped, because we had nowhere to go. Water will come in here from this here, water will come in from over here, and we didn't have anywhere to go.[It's that water]. There's one for the helicopters and lift airlifting us, what would help, cause you can't drive a car through that water.Speaker 1 10:23 I always said I would never get on a plane or a helicopter. But I do it now, cause I didn't have no other choice to drown I suspect, cause I can't swim.Speaker 3 10:37 Unable to hold back, swollen rivers betray their banks and those who live miles away.Unknown Speaker 10:44 Oh they tell me in 1954, Hazel come through, it got up, but it's never been like this. Never been this high.Brown water holds thousands captive.Speaker 1 10:56 The Tar River, the Neuse River, Cape Fear, little Roanoke, all should see major, major floods, many of them seeing the highest floodwaters ever in history.Unknown Speaker 11:09 We're landing helicopters out here on the highway. We're pulling people off rooftops, you know, we're landing in cornfields. We're taking as many as we can at a time, and we're dropping them off here and going back out and getting more.It's so amazing, now these little boys are probably just taking their first helicopter ride. Now watch the mother's face. Look at the smile on her face.My whole neighborhood was just flooded, and I don't know what to do. And my momma, she was just crying.Speaker 3 11:41 Most escape with only the clothes on their backs.Unknown Speaker 11:45 Mother, I'm fine! Teresa, Mike, Junior, we're fine! Love you guys.Speaker 2 11:52 Others refused to leave despite rising waters.Unknown Speaker 11:56 There's another guy that I know that's staying. They said he's gonna look after everything, so I'll go back, try to make contact with him on the phone.He was afraid of the looters that's coming in. The other night, we were out there and we heard boats coming in and out.Eric Flack 12:11 Firefighters in Murray tried to take this 71 year old man from the water in his home. He told them he wanted to stay with his dogs.Unknown Speaker 12:19 They literally had minutes to make a decision, do they stay with their homes, stay with their belongings, or do they go?Unknown Speaker 12:28 And for those trying to make it out on their own...Unknown Speaker 12:44 A growing sea consumes hundreds of roads.Roads, half the roads caved in.All right, so you got two rescue boats.Three other trucks were going round to this location.This doctor, and two medics are going with them to this facility, and they need a lift.Speaker 3 13:06 This tractor trailer and this driver were literally getting swallowed up by the swollen Tar River early this morning. Now the driver was brought to safety just in time by a real life hero and hoisted into a Coast Guard chopper, clinging on for dear life. Chilling pictures which give vision to the magnitude of the situation here in the East.Unknown Speaker 13:25 It shows you just how tough it is to make these rescues too, the crews have to be just steady. They have to be capable, they have to get on those Maguire rigs and step out into nothingness sometimes, just to pull people out of vehicles when they probably shouldn't have been where they were to begin with.Speaker 3 13:38 At least 40,000 cars and trucks, no match for murky waters.Unknown Speaker 13:43 There's a car down there flooded right now, and they don't know whether the people were in it, if they got out safe, or whether they were washed away.50 people will die in North Carolina before Floyd is finished. An entire family, swept away from their boat in Pinetops.Mother, father, a daughter, her child, and I think two more small children. Boat capsized, with that amount of people on it, the current was so rough in here, and I don't say that any of them got out, but some of them did.This is a small community, I think most everybody here probably knew being in his family and you know we- we all touched by it. And you know our prayers are with them, and you know it's a- it's something that in a small community like this, you know, everybody knows everybody.They found my brother this morning at 10 o'clock, but he still didn't finally look good, but they- they had started such a name that they couldn't do it anymore.I feel asleep. You know, I'm feeling like- it definitely like I'm in a dream that is not happening, you know, that I didn't know was going to come, where I'm in right now. I just don't know."Amazing grace, how sweet the sound. That saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I'm found. Was blind, but now I see."Speaker 3 15:38 [Why would] in prayer, the only hope for Tabernacle Free Will Baptist Church in Kinston.Unknown Speaker 15:43 Church members as well as many, many, many volunteers have been working relentlessly since Friday morning at about 5am.Regardless of whether we have service in this building, our people will be with us, and they'll be here if it's filling sandbags, they'll be praying and filling sandbags. So they'll- they'll be with us regardless. These are some good folks here; unified people. And they'll do whatever it takes and being a part of this service this morning is going to be through prayer and sandbag-ing and [churring] up the walls.Interviewer 16:20 Would you say this has really pulled the congregation together?Unknown Speaker 16:22 Oh it has, even just a few moments ago when we had the major problem, we had probably 50 men working in- in the water waist deep, I was in 10 deep myself. We probably have another 50 or 60 people filling sandbags. It was- it was just marvelous.Still, the water invades. The church is lost.Water everywhere.Princeville up in there since slavery.Speaker 3 16:53 Princeville, the oldest town incorporated by blacks in the United States wiped out. History obliterates history.Unknown Speaker 17:01 It's all black people have lost everything we have- we have- All our homes is on the end, all black people on the end and we completely lost everything.This is the town hall right here, was built in the 1800s. This is the center of the city, everybody comes here for meetings, for get togethers, but now there's nothing.Highway 258 is now swamped out. No traffic here, just water as far as you can see.It just takes your life from you. It just like you standing here, what if you gonna die with it?But it'd been devastating really, even for the kids. No, even my grandchildren ask me some "Mom, can we go home?"Homes and businesses all over the east, drenched, destroyed.This is called the Main Cart of Tarbaro, which was a center of trade for since 1780 and 90, when the steamboats used to come up the Tar River which is in the distance. The building right here with green is an old merchandise store called [Dutchess Clark] and Sons. It's now [Royster] Fertilizer Company. Had five feet of water in it.Interviewer 18:15 How fast did the water come up?Unknown Speaker 18:17 Eight hours; from the time it started rising, down to that into town. With people fighting for the- just getting over the hurricane, they didn't have time to come back down really, and take care- cause you see how bad it is. Jewelry store had been here for 35-40 years, totally destroyed. No insurance. You've heard of a drive-in banks, but have you ever been to a float-in bank?We've never had damage like this, I've never seen anything like this in my life. We've got friends that are not accounted for yet. Doesn't mean that they're gone, but they're just not accounted for. We've been through seven hurricanes here, but this looks the worst damage that I've ever seen from all of them. We'll stay and we'll rebuild. These are second, third generation stores down here, so they'll clean up and get going. Tarboro will be back together, it's just gonna take a tremendous amount of time, patience, and effort to put it back together.Speaker 3 19:13 A sad situation as we're traveling from west to east, along the Tar River.Speaker 7 19:20 A devastating situation. The flood of the century.Speaker 3 19:25 Widespread flooding, seen best from above, in Eagle 9.Unknown Speaker 19:30 Familiar sights, like Pitt Greenville Airport, submerged.Speaker 8 19:34 This is Pitt Greenville Airport, along Memorial Drive. Giving us a much better look here.Unknown Speaker 19:41 Well there's where the runway is supposed to be, and there's the wind sock that you're looking at right now.Speaker 3 19:47 This is- we're looking at Highway 13 as you can see, totally underwater coming into the Snowhill area. Highway 13, completely underwater. Incredible.Unknown Speaker 19:59 The only way we could tell the road was there was because of the power lines running parallel with the road.Eric Flack 20:03 The houses along this stretch of Highway 91 in Greene County are completely empty today. People either got out before Floyd, or were rescued by boat yesterday.Speaker 8 20:13 Along Contentnea Creek, you couldn't even tell where the creek is.Unknown Speaker 20:16 Behind you, the waters continue to rise, huh?Erin Mayhew 20:19 That's right. The folks here in Lenore county are still being evacuated as the water continues to rise. Now, earlier today [Velana] was doing reports from here, and since then the water has already come forward about 40 feet!David 20:33 We're looking along Seven Springs. This is the Piney Grove Church Road area. Highway 55, that comes into town- That's the Neuse River raging, look at all the turbulent water there. Seven Springs Road, Indian Springs, just to the west of there.Unknown Speaker 20:49 He just told us there's no way for us to get in.Interviewer 20:52 What do you think about this?Unknown Speaker 20:56 [unintelligible]David 20:58 Highway 1155 underwater. From here we went toward Jones County.Unknown Speaker 21:04 Wow.Greg Moore 21:04 I mean, it's all underwater.Unknown Speaker 21:05 It is completely underwater. You can definitely see the water is flowing rapidly through the town of Trenton.David 21:12 Trent River, just as bad as any other body of water in eastern North Carolina.Robin Edwards 21:18 We're between Greenville and Washington over here, the Pactolus area off of 264. This is where they rescued about 30 church members out of a church after Hurricane Floyd.David 21:29 They're doing massive rescue efforts in the Pitt County area. They are now pulling people out as fast as they can from the flood, the flooded plain there near Pactolus and on back.Speaker 6 21:41 This is just off of Highway 33, there were trailers, homes, completely underwater.Eric Flack 21:47 This is Highway 33 in north Greenville, and for residents here the floodwaters came so fast and so furious that saving their property became just an afterthought to saving themselves.Speaker 1 22:00 Well, everybody seemed to be doing fine, but it's bad on everybody. It's bad. We're available, we're all kinda hot laying right now, but don't know how long. You don't know how long.Speaker 4 22:25 They ordered about 200 meals last night for the people in the Belvoir area, but there are more than 400 people confined to this area, and the shelter where many of them are staying is beginning to flood.Unknown Speaker 22:37 Waters coming into the parking lot, it's starting go to the church.We have no food, we have just what we have in our cupboards.As you ride by trail, and the whole trail of the house is covered. It's rather- it's really depressing. And these people I've known all my life- their lives just about. They worked hard, and their everything is gone and none of them that I knew of have flood insurance. Because we didn't think we'd ever have this.Speaker 2 23:17 Creeks and raging river beds swallow communities.Speaker 9 23:22 A picture's worth 1000 words, but no words can describe what Floyd's floods have done to the town of Grifton.Unknown Speaker 23:28 A lot of people have lost their homes, things that they can't replace, but at least they alive. But, this is just total devastation.Speaker 8 23:38 The hurricane was bad, but this flooding is unreal.Unknown Speaker 23:43 You ever floated on the streets of Griffin before?Unknown Speaker 23:46 Absolutely not. This is awful. It's terrible. So many families are outta their homes, they can't get any food, can't get any money. Running out of gas. It's terrible.Speaker 9 24:02 Fish and eels fight for their lives as people who lost everything fight to recover.Samuel Hardy 24:07 When they told us the whole house is underwater.Interviewer 24:10 What are you going to do?Unknown Speaker 24:13 Have to start over I guess. Put it in the Lord's hands.Water sneaks past locked doors, stealing a lifetime of belongings.Speaker 1 24:22 My wife still over there crying now. So, you know, we built that a long time. Everything's gone.Unknown Speaker 24:28 Underwater, uninsured.There goes 70 years of my life down the drain.What the matter? What's the matter with my little baby?Speaker 3 24:48 Washed out, mentally and physically tired, Floyd's homeless find shelter in schools.Unknown Speaker 24:54 Take a look behind me. There are dozens and dozens of families here. They're now just trying to find it. Place asleep right here on the hall.School cafeterias become refugee camps.You don't know where you're gonna go. You don't know what's gonna happen next, you know?Speaker 10 25:10 We just depressed, we need help, we don't know if we can live in our homes or not.Unknown Speaker 25:16 More than 33,000 camp out. A sleepover that for some goes on for weeks.Speaker 11 25:23 You appreciate the shelter, but I miss my home.Speaker 2 25:27 Home, a place 4,000 will never return.Speaker 11 25:31 I lost my truck, brand new truck, brand new car, brand new home, all of that is underwater.Unknown Speaker 25:38 And while waiting for the waters to recede to see what else may be lost, many pass the time sorting through what they were able to grab.You know you hate to give up what you already have, cause you don't know if you're gonna be able to afford to get it back anymore. You don't know if you'll be able to replace it.Speaker 3 25:53 Hiding the cat in a pillow case, Margie Kinnear looks for the rest of her family, separated when the waters started sneaking up.Margie Kinnear 26:01 At first, right after the hurricane, we had- everything was great. No, I mean I had a puddle in my backyard, but that night, the next day it rose halfway up the underpinning on my trailer, and by last night it was at my door.Unknown Speaker 26:15 Angel, you're the man.Unknown Speaker 26:19 Pamela Taylor was at a shelter when labor pains kicked in. Hours later, Angel Miraclette Taylor arrived early.Pamela Taylor 26:28 It's something that would help us get allies back on track, kind of help us give us something to focus on, but we have lost everything that we have.Speaker 3 26:38 A stranger heard the story and paid for a stay in a hotel room.Speaker 7 26:42 I ain't never been the type to ask, but today I gotta let that ego go, and just gotta ask at this time of need.Speaker 2 26:50 So many in need after Mother Nature wages war.Greg Moore 26:54 Some people kind of liken this to almost like a war zone because a lot of helicopters are flying around help them, but it's different without water, without power.Unknown Speaker 27:03 At one time, more than half a million in the dark.Speaker 3 27:14 We're looking at the Greenville substation, the power plant. Again, very, very precarious situation as the water is so close to knocking the power out again in Greenville. A very dangerous situation for the Greenville Utilities Commission as they attempt to keep Greenville with power.Speaker 8 27:40 This is our engineering complex. It's built a foot above the 100-year floodplain. So, it tells you how much water we've had here.Speaker 9 27:53 Crews from Greenville Utility return to their operation center today. The facility, and really the nucleus of their electrical operation is completely underwater. Computers, phone lines, maps, grids, company records, all a total loss.Speaker 1 28:08 I was told yesterday we have a fleet of probably 180 or 200 vehicles and we've lost 75.Speaker 9 28:16 All the remains in the North Greenville area of Mumford Road and Highway 33 are failed and desperate attempts of getting to higher elevation. The five power substations of Greenville Utilities are diminished now to just one, containing a 230,000 volt insulator threatened by rising waters and deadly oil slicks. Those oil booms are proving to be effective. If you think electricity and water are a bad mix, imagine the threat of flammable fuel floating in that direction. Carolina Power and Light is also working closely with Greenville Utilities to keep the power on. The conversion of five substations to just one is not a decision made lightly, but so far it's worked.Speaker 2 28:59 And this is nothing like I've ever seen before, it's a first time deal. A lot of thinking went into it, a lot of gutsy calls went into it, but they made it work and people've had power and it means a lot of things to these people, with situation as bad as it is right now to have some lights and little electricity is a big boost as far as morale for the people.Speaker 3 29:20 Things taken for granted become precious.Unknown Speaker 29:23 You got any ice?Speaker 3 29:27 Bottled water and ice. Medications left behind in a hurry.Unknown Speaker 29:33 Little kids running out of asthma medicine. Adults that are running out of medicine that one man's got two days supply. These things are ordered their own file at Eckerd drugstore. It's just the physical act of getting them into Belvoir.No way for regular deliveries at the grocery store to get through.Speaker 3 29:54 Before I check in now with our Latonya Nixon-Vines who's continuing our team coverage of Flood of the Century, Latonya joins us from Stantonsberg Road. Good afternoon, Latonya. What's going on there?Latonya Nixon-Vines 30:06 Well, this is actually one of the airlifting sites for the National Guard and the Forestry Service. You see these cots here, they're taking them out to people who are in need. And check out this, looks like a- kind of a assembly line here. They're getting some of the cots into the helicopter, and they have some medical doctors on board that helicopter. We have water that's going out to some of the people, bread, and we also have ice. Now the yellow helicopter you see there, they will be sending supplies to Belvoir. As you know, Belvoir has been devastated by floodwaters like many other areas in the community and they're finally getting some relief.Speaker 3 30:50 Flooded-down farmworkers face a language barrier. A volunteer comes forward to explain the danger.Speaker 3 31:02 Isolation in a storm, where blocked roads keep children from moms and dads.Interviewer 31:07 This is Erica, and Erica hasn't seen her mom now in about a week. They're separated by the floodwaters but she wants to say something very special. Now get that get that big smile going now. There you go. Okay, what you got?Erica 31:19 Hey, Mommy, I love you.Interviewer 31:23 There you go. You okay?Erica 31:25 Yeah.Interviewer 31:25 Yeah, I tell you what, that's what it's- you know, when they separate like that, that's really hard on some folks. And, I know you miss her don't you?Erica 31:31 Yes.Interviewer 31:32 Okay. Thanks so much. Okay. That's Erica.Unknown Speaker 31:35 We have a small size guest on the set.For some families, more than a week of being apart.David 31:41 This is Emily, and Emily Brown is our artist that drew me that beautiful picture a little while ago. Emily, you see yourself on TV there?Emily Brown 31:51 Uh-huh.David 31:52 Emily and our director Charles, if you would tell me can- audio, if we can hear Emily. Okay, Emily, we thank you so much for coming by. And you have you been watching all the TV in terms of you've been able to watch Eyewitness News 9 and Storm Team 9? Very good. Well, I appreciate you watching.Unknown Speaker 32:14 So Emily, why did you draw this picture for David?Emily Brown 32:17 Because I love him.David 32:18 You do?Unknown Speaker 32:19 We do too!Let me ask a question. Have you ever seen him wear a shirt, those colors?Emily Brown 32:25 I didn't know what his shirt looks like.Unknown Speaker 32:27 Well, you know what, I kind of like it. Maybe, David, you should look for a shirt like this. I believe- I don't know if you know this, but David has three little girls and his wife. Maybe a girl, boy, I don't know. You're gonna tell me that he hasn't seen him in, I guess a week. So you've just made his whole day.Unknown Speaker 32:49 It's alright.Speaker 12 32:50 So we- we really appreciate you very much, and we appreciate your beautiful drawing. Come over here and let us all hug you now. Thank you for coming.Unknown Speaker 32:59 This is a time where [everyone gets a hug]. I tell you what David, that's a great picture. It certainly looks a lot like you, I've gotta admit it does. And I know I miss your family, and we're behind you 100%.Thank you very much, Emily, you've been a real help to me. I appreciate you.Emily Brown 33:14 Thanks.Unknown Speaker 33:23 This is the way it's supposed to happen.Unknown Speaker 33:27 Farm families struggle to get a hold of their livelihood.Follow the Leader becomes a frustrating game for these farmers.Speaker 13 33:34 Keep trying and trying, and they just keep turning around, going back. It's hopeless.Speaker 9 33:39 Some of the rescuers use a boat to wrangle the herd back towards the tractor, and it appears for a moment the game of Follow the Leader is back on. Just yesterday, the rescuers got the cows to this point. You can see dry ground is right back there behind me, very close. Then a jetski and a helicopter went by, it scared the cows and they decided to turn back. So the rescuers turn their focus on that one cow they have and head to the road.Unknown Speaker 34:11 Park, can you open up middle gate, let me walk in the trailer?I had probably pulled out one by individually, one by one.Come on! There you go, girl. Come on girl. Come on! Come on!Speaker 3 34:26 Life on the farm doesn't look good either for the Allen family. Their heard of 300 cattle, wiped out.Unknown Speaker 34:34 I don't know how you don't quit. I don't know how you do it. You just keep trying.Speaker 2 34:40 The Allens, like so many, don't have flood insurance.Unknown Speaker 34:44 Hog farmers tie carcasses together to keep the animals from floating downstream.Those hogs that are still alive are hanging on to life on this little hill of higher ground, but there is no food for them. We don't know how long they're going to survive.Speaker 3 35:00 Dead chickens and turkeys, more evidence of the storm devastating Duplin County.Unknown Speaker 35:05 Look at all the birds. Those are all birds, they're just washed out. They're into the woods.Looks like a fish kill, like we've seen many times, and they just collect against-And you could actually smell the decaying bodies from the air.Samuel Hardy 35:25 They're glad to get rescued. They've been about a foot in the water when we put them in here.Unknown Speaker 35:30 Dead goats, a problem for Samuel Hardy.Samuel Hardy 35:33 They float to the house and float back. Float to the house and float back. So, we get dinner with the best we can.Speaker 2 35:38 Overall, AG loss is close to a billion dollars.Unknown Speaker 35:43 Forgotten pets struggle to survive.Speaker 4 35:46 Cats sitting on porches confused and scared. A four legged casualty floats along the road, while stranded dogs take over the volunteer fire department.Margie Kinnear 35:56 People just didn't really think they left their animals in the backyard thinking they would be safe. But the water came up, they- dogs and cats have been treading water for hours and they were taken into dry land. They rescued rabbits, they rescued kittens, dogs-Unknown Speaker 36:08 Some saved by daring rescues.Speaker 5 36:10 It took more than two hours to airlift this mustang to safety. The horses corralling, gripped and completely submerged. Once on land, veterinarians say he only suffered from a minor leg injury and hypothermia. Rescuers name him Lucky.Speaker 2 36:27 Most crops like tobacco cannot be saved.Speaker 1 36:31 I had over 100,000 pounds already seated up ready to go to the market, and I thought I hit it in a safe place, and it's all underwater. 100,000 pounds already cured out, ready to go to market.Erica 36:40 So you want Bill Clinton to see some tobacco.Unknown Speaker 36:42 Yeah, so Bill Clinton [unintelligible], he needs to see some tobacco.President Bill Clinton 36:52 Every once in a while something happens, it proves to you no matter how hard you work, you are never completely in control.Unknown Speaker 36:58 Floodwaters in Tarboro behind them, politicians make promises to a desperate crowd.President Bill Clinton 37:04 We have already authorized FEMA to provide for direct federal assistance to clean up the 66 counties in North Carolina that have been hurt. Today the Department of Agriculture will approve a disaster food stamp program to help people who need help to get food for their families.Unknown Speaker 37:21 Food stamps. That means that I can eat. I can eat. Yes, I can eat. That means a lot.Samuel Hardy 37:30 I think it's wonderful that he thought enough to come and find out exactly firsthand for himself. The fight that we're going through here, this is really something that has happened, that is devastating to the people of this area. In fact, the whole state.Interviewer 37:49 Bill Clinton is heading our direction. Certainly, we are very honored. Yes, sir. 24 hours a day for three days. We're glad you're here. Not much. I know a lot of folks around here haven't had much sleep, but they're very glad to see you, sir.President Bill Clinton 38:03 Thank you. I'm honored to be here.Interviewer 38:05 Tell us a little bit, I understand that you've really done a lot to lift the spirits. What specifically, what message do you want to get out to all the folks in eastern North Carolina?President Bill Clinton 38:14 That, the federal government is committed to doing whatever we can to help people get back in their homes, help the farmers, the small business people, the communities rebuild. It's going to take some time. We have to go back and make sure that the laws we have are adequate, and if they are, then we have to make sure the money's there. But, I want to encourage people to keep their spirits up. A lot of lives have been saved that could have been lost, it could be worse than it is. It's tough as it is, and we're gonna stay with you to get back on your feet.Interviewer 38:43 Describe the damage that you saw. Were you surprised by just how widespread it was?President Bill Clinton 38:48 Yes. I was because, I had thought by this time, there wouldn't be so many houses still buried underwater. So I was surprised by the extent of it. It is, it's unbelievable. And you know, I talked to- when you told the story of the people getting taken out of the attic, you know, cut out of the attic, I met one of the women who was one of those 11 people taken out of that attic- or 13, however many there were. There were a lot of things here that most Americans would find hard to believe, and the important thing I want to emphasize, too, just for people to understand how unusual it was, is that most of these people were literally beyond the 500-year floodplain, which means that what happened here is something you could expect to happen less than once every 500 years. And, we just have to stay with them and do our best to help them.Interviewer 39:42 So many of these folks are uninsured or underinsured, had no idea that they would even ever need flood insurance.President Bill Clinton 39:47 Well, that's one of the things we gotta do. We got to figure out how many were insured, we learned today that maybe some of the people in the in the manufactured housing units actually had insurance just because it was blanket coverage, even though they were not in the floodplain. And if that's so, that may cut the- you know, they'll be able to collect on their insurance if the deductible is not too high. Everybody else, we're gonna have to get some help for, and we will. Thank you. Thank you very much.Unknown Speaker 40:21 Finally, hope for the hurting. September 21st, almost a week after Floyd makes landfall.Eric Flack 40:29 One of the county's major arteries is now open, 258. Four days, it was covered in water, stranding people on either side. Today on the same stretch of road, the water has receded. The road is open.Speaker 6 40:43 Most rivers in eastern North Carolina continue to go down with this, got the latest update from all the rivers. The only one that has not crested yet is the Neuse River in Kinston.Unknown Speaker 40:52 As they go down, flood relief picks up. Food for the hungry.Latonya Nixon-Vines 40:57 People are coming in and getting some delicious meals, you have to check out the meals. I mean, good hometown southern meals. We have corn bread, green beans, turkey and gravy, fried chicken, baked chicken, ham, they even have some dessert here, some cake. And they have been serving free meals since yesterday.Speaker 3 41:20 And the generosity doesn't stop there. One good samaritan spends hundreds on bedding.Speaker 14 41:26 [Flagged us down], asked us who needed help. So we told him we followed this- This man's generosity was absolutely amazing. He said he heard on our newscast that shelters were needed- needed supplies, but he wasn't sure where to take them. So we told him and take a look at this. This is [Tony Marie]; marched into Walmart, hunted down the manager, and went shopping. He bought $600 worth of pillows and blankets. [Tony Marie] says he did it because of the sheer need, those making a shelter their temporary home say it's a blessing.Unknown Speaker 41:53 Yeah, I thought of my own kids. And, there's got to be kids there, there's got to be somebody that's uncomfortable.Offers of help pour in.Speaker 15 42:02 We've got another woman who has passed on her information to take in three female students. Grab your pens and paper.Speaker 1 42:08 Seeing it on TV is one thing, but when you go out there and you actually talk to the people, and you see how they're hurting, and you have to open up whatever you have to give.Unknown Speaker 42:17 Giving time, money and supplies.Disasters like this bring out the best in people. And, if you can help somebody else you help yourself far more.Tell people to come out and help.Well, we did this during the war. Folding bandages, and said Rome would rise like the phoenix out of the ashes. This is the phoenix rising out of the ashes, coming out of the flood, pulling out and fighting back. Creating something.Speaker 3 42:56 East Carolina housing have been jeopardized for sure in terms of the off campus housing.Unknown Speaker 43:03 The East Carolina University campus, an island surrounded by gloom. The Tar River takes students belongings and much more.Speaker 9 43:12 Drew Jackson works with us at WNCT. But Drew never knew how close to home Floyd would hit. Not until his friend Aaron Child disappeared in the storm.Drew Jackson 43:21 This is a missing person. It's one of my best friends. He's real good guy. Real good guy. To lose him, it's- it's almost impossible to know, sort of the pain.Eric Flack 43:34 The body of 18 year old Aaron Child was found in floodwaters at the bottom of College Hill. Dozens of others are still missing, separated from family and friends by Hurricane Floyd.Unknown Speaker 43:44 More than 2,000 students will return to find they have no place to live.Nothing that I've ever thought about when the water was coming up could have ever matched what it is. It's very, very bad.Speaker 3 43:58 Cut off from campus, floodwaters forced the ECU football team to prepare and play on borrowed fields.Unknown Speaker 44:06 There's a disaster back home. I mean, I've got kids that have lost everything they had. I mean, there are- there's water in second story apartments. So, you know this is a big deal from my standpoint, I've got about 22 kids that are being- going to be displaced that, they don't have underwear right now. And you know they're concerned, I don't blame them, so we got a lot of work to do. Apart from football.More than touchdowns and tackles, a huge win as the Pirates show it's possible to rip hurricanes.Speaker 2 44:54 ECU, 27; Miami 23.Interviewer 44:58 You knew you guys had a whole lot to overcome this week, you knew you're away from home, you got lot to overcome. How important is it feel now?Unknown Speaker 45:23 Oh, it feels great man. Everybody down this, they already had it written up for us to catch an L, and we came out here and shocked the world, baby.Interviewer 45:30 What does it do for everybody back in eastern North Carolina who've been going through so much all week?Unknown Speaker 45:34 I mean, this goes out to the fans, all the people that had tough tragedies, we had blew one out for everybody to fans of East Carolina.Cheers for the home team.Victory for volunteers.Speaker 6 45:50 They want to fill this truck, you can hear the chant going on in the background. These folks, they're tired, they're hungry, but they continue to want to work. It's just a great, great situation.Unknown Speaker 46:01 Volunteers help Eyewitness News 9 and Sam's Club fill truck after truck with food, baby supplies, and toiletries.Latonya Nixon-Vines 46:08 We have the mayor of Winterville out here, Doug Jackson, who has come by. What do you think about all this?Doug Jackson 46:15 You know, it's hard to even put it into words. It's just phenomenal what people have done, and I'd like to take this time to tell everyone that- that the people, every person that lives in Winterville, when they get ready to go to bed at night, ought to get down on their hands and knees and thank the good Lord. Because we're lucky, when you start comparing Winterville with other areas in Pitt County.Latonya Nixon-Vines 46:40 A lot of people with smiles on their faces, coming out, making donations, it's just been wonderful and great out here.Speaker 10 46:47 There's just a love in my heart, and I love giving to all the people!Unknown Speaker 46:51 Caravans of donations head to the hard hit communities. Cash comes pouring in.Latonya Nixon-Vines 46:56 $10,000 check. Check out all those zeros.Unknown Speaker 46:59 That's wonderful. It's so exciting.Interviewer 47:01 What have you got, Jesse?Jesse 47:02 Money.Interviewer 47:03 Oh, you've got some money, don't you?Unknown Speaker 47:05 Sacrificing fistfuls of pennies.Jesse 47:09 This money's my sister's.Interviewer 47:10 What do you got for us? Thank you so much. You did a great job.Unknown Speaker 47:15 I challenge five year- five year olds or older to donate a week's allowing.A whole week's allowance?Trying to hold it up. This one right here in particular-Kind letters from kids also embrace the suffering-that says "Dear friend, I know you're crowded in the hallway. I wish I could give you my toys and food. I wish I could put my arms around you. I wish I could take you home and take care of you. I would give you new shoes and do anything I can to help you."Help comes. Days after being evacuated, families reunite.Latonya Nixon-Vines 47:50 Well, we've got another visitor here now, what's this- these are the kids you lost?Unknown Speaker 47:53 These are the ones that we lost. He found them for me. This is Christine, Lexi, Charles, Michael.Latonya Nixon-Vines 48:00 Everybody remembers you lost your family, you brought them here.Unknown Speaker 48:03 She saw the thing with the cat.I saw her on the news. I saw her, and when I saw the cat come out of the blanket and I started crying, it was just- I was glad to know they were alright.Latonya Nixon-Vines 48:13 Well thank you so much that you came out here to be a part of this now.Unknown Speaker 48:16 We've brought you clothes.Yeah, we brought baby stuff.A chance to let the healing begin.He lost everything in the flood. His home was completely- completely filled with water. Everything he owns is gone, but he's out here.If you want to continue to give, we will find another rig. In fact, looking for one right now, so don't stop.Interviewer 48:36 Yeah, we're looking for a truck right now and hopefully we'll have this one full- Hopefully by the next time we come to you, this one'll be full. Yeah, we'll do it.Unknown Speaker 48:44 About 4 hours. Just amazing. Boy, and that is because of your response. Brown, we look forward to checking in with you again shortly. Get back to work, okay?Interviewer 48:51 I see a truck coming right now, I don't know if that's the empty one or not but there's one coming across the parking lot right now. You can see it right there, so hopefully that's a- another truck for us to fill up tonight.David 48:59 I think it is.Unknown Speaker 49:01 We can do it if we try as the angry monster that took so much from so many retreats, a chance to survey what is lost.Just see if there's anything to salvage. But, you can look at the house. There's nothing left there.The floodwaters reveal the damage Floyd left behind.It's really difficult to think what they're gonna have to go through for the next few months. And I've got it easy. I wasn't touched at all.Speaker 16 49:31 Now, that showed how powerful the water was to you.Unknown Speaker 49:35 This is just such a catastrophe, I mean, like nothing we've ever seen.And never want to see again.Pamela Taylor 49:43 Cause I just thank the Lord that I'm still alive, and that we didn't lose our lives like some people did.Unknown Speaker 49:50 We're going with this, but I think it's more than anybody ever expected. Certainly. And yeah, it's- it's not gonna go away. It's not gonna go away in a week or two, it's gonna be here for months and maybe years, because after the water goes down, what's underneath is gonna surprise everybody.Eastern North Carolina: under water.Rescues from rising rivers.Shelter from Floyd's floods and incredible devastation.Isolation, and togetherness.Images, a reflection of what a killer hurricane leaves behind.Cause they say this is the flood of century.This is nothing. This is nothing, this is minor right now. But later on, it'll probably get a little bad."The Water Will" 51:23 "Let me paint the scene for you from my black bottom boat. My house is below me, oh now my dreams won't float. Heard the weather was coming, and tried to stay, but I got what I could and I got away. Cause I'm a hurricane tride, a hurricane true, I know when to hide, and I know what to do. For a long time come, time will stand still. If the wind don't get you, the water will. Choppers came and saved a few in the dark, very scared. Airing this one, the canes gone by, this one came even there. There's a horse on a roof with a dog and a snake. They're checking out the view, and what was once not a [leg], you know we're all hurricane tride, and hurricane true. We know when to hide, we know just what to do. For a long time to come, time will stand still. If the wind don't get you, the water will. It's gonna take some time, over all the cost. Nowadays, I live on what I got, and not what I lost, cause I'm hurricane tride, I'm hurricane true. I know when to hide, and I know what to do. For a long time to come, time will stand still. If the wind don't get you, the water should. Let me take a seat for you from my black bottom boat."Unknown Speaker 54:38 A sad situation as we're traveling from west to east along the Tar River. You're looking at apartment complexes here that are completely-Speaker 9 55:00 You can definitely see the water is flowing rapidly through the count of Trenton.Speaker 3 55:31 The only thing that's visible is the clubhouse itself, and the clubhouse looks to be almost ready to take on floodwater damage. This is incredible in the fact that this is a 500-year floodplain at the Tar River. You see the pumpkins there, they're all up against the hedge, and they've been washed downstream. We're to the west of Grimesland, to the east of Simpson. Highway-Speaker 8 56:00 We're looking over the Belvoir community. We see every now and then some people as we're very close to the ground now, making our approach into the church parking lot here in Belvoir. Gonna be picking up our photojournalist Woody Spencer and reporter Carla Alligood.Speaker 4 56:20 David, check out this church on 64, these people are stranded or these cars are stranded. They can't go anywhere with-Speaker 3 56:25 Highway 64, totally impassable here as we approach the Tarboro area. Highway 64 completely impassable, the cars are are stranded they cannot go anywhere.