As I was expecting Hurricane Matthew to hit North Carolina, I was boarding a plane to Boston Massachusetts and I had tried to prepare my Dad, who was staying at my house in Johnston County for the damage that would come. I left him portable batteries to charge his phone with and my mom left him a couple of gallons of water in case the power and water went out (which they both did). My dad didn’t believe us until the next day when the wind was blowing so hard around the house that I could hear it over the phone, limbs were falling out of the trees that surround his house, and waters began to rise. Later that same day he lost power for two days, which doesn’t seem like a lot, but he was stuck home alone and unable to leave because of the major flooding that had gone on in my county.
Above is the Neuse River that flows through Smithfield, Johnston County the day after the Hurricane, and it was expected to rise more than ten feet from there.
Johnston County wasn’t the only county hit hard by this hurricane, there are so many others with flooding worse than ours, and I couldn’t even drive to some of my friend’s houses because of the flooding when I got back from Boston, there was so much flooding on some back roads that they actually got washed away. I didn’t know that roads getting washed away was even a thing until I saw what happened to some of the roads in Johnston County.
As if the flooding in my hometown and county wasn’t enough, after I got back I heard about some of the other communities that were hit hard by this Hurricane like Lumberton, Kinston, and even Greenville. I know Lumberton has been underwater for a couple of days now, and the residents are trapped there, they can’t get in or out. The day after the hurricane hit Greenville, my roommates send me pictures of the entrance to our apartment complex, which looked like a lake. As soon as I looked on social media I saw probably fifty pictures of the flooding from all over, and I even looked at the statistics comparing Hurricane Matthew to Hurricane Floyd.
I hope that everyone who is affected by the floods caused by Hurricane Matthew finds some kind of peace, and I know there are about a hundred organizations near or in your community that you can easily get involved in to help. There is of course the Red Cross, and a bunch of local churches and charities that would be happy to recieve any kind of help. Stay safe if you’re traveling, and remember that it only takes six inches of water to float a car.