Eva M. Clayton: “I come from North Carolina, and there is, indeed, trouble in the land where I come from. There is great devastation. In…”

“I come from North Carolina, and there is, indeed, trouble in the land where I come from. There is great devastation. In fact, we have suffered the greatest devastation that we have ever suffered in the history of our State. Some are calling this the flood of the century. It exceeded the 500-year watermark. So, indeed, when we think of Interstate 95 being closed, and we know Interstate 95 was built for certainly every eventuality for many hundreds of years, when we think of the great unexpected consequences that this flood has brought, we can understand the devastation that the people in eastern North Carolina indeed are facing. In fact, Hurricane Floyd came on the back of Hurricane Dennis. Dennis had come and rained and had dumped approximately 20 inches from August 29 to September 9. So the grounds were already soaked. Then as my colleagues recall, Floyd came back; and when he came, he came all the way up the coast from Florida all the way up to New York. The State of Florida was severely hit, not as much as North Carolina. But Virginia was also affected. The States of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York, all of those were indeed affected. But the devastation in North Carolina is profound. Over 49 individuals have been confirmed dead. There are six bodies unidentified. The waters now are still rising because, just yesterday, six more inches of water has been the result of the rain that has occurred, and we are expecting to get at least 4 more in that area.”