In the afternoon of Oct. 8, the eye of Hurricane Matthew passed over Wilmington. By Oct. 10 — a mild, mostly dry weather day in southeastern North Carolina — many of the state’s rivers and waterways had flooded, stranding thousands. That same day, the Federal Emergency Management Administration declared the destruction caused by Hurricane Matthew in North Carolina a Major Disaster.
One editorial board member, driving a detoured route overlooking flooded fields on the way to Lumberton the day of the declaration, kept thinking about the fragment of the pre-Civil War spiritual James Baldwin used as the epigraph to his 1963 book, "The Fire Next Time": “God gave Noah the rainbow sign, no more water, the fire next time!”
Indeed, the destruction wreaked by the storm in North Carolina has been near biblical in proportions. FEMA declared 25 counties (from Gates on the Virginia border to Columbus on the South Carolina line) eligible for individual and public federal assistance. Another 11 North Carolina counties are eligible just for federal assistance to public organizations in cleaning up the wreckage.
These FEMA declarations are a good thing, providing another source of funds as eastern North Carolina recovers, but they also provide a glimpse into the level of property loss caused by the storm and subsequent flooding.
Closely trailing the threat of personal danger and the immediate property loss of the hurricane and flooding come the economic consequences of the disaster. In Lumberton, for example, where basic water utilities are still not fully functional, many employers have suspended operations. These days out of work put an extra financial burden on a large swath of the community, even those not directly affected by property damage.
To make matters worse, a comparison of FEMA’s NC disaster declaration map and a map of poverty levels in the state confirms that many of the counties harshly affected by Hurricane Matthew are some of our poorest. The worst of the suffering wrought by Hurricane Matthew may be yet to come, in the form of financial distress and destitution.
A towel of hope in this soggy, slow-developing tragedy are the many people who have worked, and continue to work, to mitigate it. From a Veterans Affairs clinic being held in a Wal-Mart parking lot in Tarboro, to reality TV’s BBQ Pitmasters holding an open barbeque in Lumberton for several days running, many people’s responses to Hurricane Matthew have been movingly generous and creative. All the individuals and organizations involved in providing basic necessities, restoring power and water utilities, and reconstructing homes and infrastructure — and all emergency rescue workers — deserve our thanks in helping our fellow North Carolinians. In this disaster that is hitting close to home, they have immediately moved to relieve suffering and restore normalcy. They have taken the first, hardest steps in the bewildering chaos that followed the storm and flooding.
Another source of comfort is that, inevitably, despite the scale and proximity of this particular disaster, things will return to normal. As mentioned before, the return to normalcy is almost certainly a good thing for those living paycheck to paycheck.
But this return also means that the generosity, time and expertise of aid workers, utility repair people, volunteers, donors and emergency managers will gradually fade into the background of our collective consciousness. Those affected will begin to see “the rainbow sign.” They will be once again able to live out their own personal triumphs and tragedies: their work, their school, their play, their sickness and health. The impressions made by the tremendous efforts that helped the state recover from Hurricane Matthew in 2016 will be superseded by those of normalcy. It is only natural.
