Re: [Paddlewise] Some Real Big Water

|what's up in wilmington? we've got friends & family there. bertha hit them
|2 years ago, and it was a mess... your last report said they were cut off.

|we haven't gotten through, or much word of anything...

|thanks,

|mark

>From news reports there are no open land routes to Wilmington.  I40 is close
from Newton, NC into Wilmington.  Most people evacuated from down east so they
are likely out of the city and can't get back.  The state is telling people that
everything EAST of I95 is CLOSED.  All primary and secondary roads are closed.

A DOT website, http://www.dot.state.nc.us/news/floyd04a3.html#28,  has the road
closing's for the state.

Most of the fatalities are from people traveling on flooded roads.  I have not
heard of any deaths from the storm itself.

The news reports say that power and phone service is out down east so even if
friends and family stayed they likely can't talk.  As long as they don't travel
they are safe.  I40 was a parking lot from Wilmington to Greensboro Weds.  Lots
of people evacuated.

The floods are going to be worse than expected.  My wife's family is from Rocky
Mount, NC.  They have a farm that is between Rocky Mount and Tarborro.  The Tar
river is on one side of the farm.  The first number is the FLOOD stage, second
number is the current level....
                                               Rocky Mount
                                                          15.0      32.2
Cresting Fri. at 34.0-35.0
                                               Tarboro
                                                          19.0      32.1
Cresting Sat. at 34.0

This is big water!  8-(

Flooded Roads.  Folks, don't try to travel across a road that is flooded.  A car
only has a couple of square feet of rubber meeting the road.  Once the water
hits the body and/or the car floats, bye bye car.  Most of the deaths from Floyd
have been because of this.  There are so many copters flying over Rocky Mount
the Coast Guard is flying a helecopter that is just for air traffic control.
The Sheriff has called on people with boats to help rescue people from the
flooding.  The DOT site has one listing for the roads in the Rocky Mount.  All
closed and flooded.

I got a call from my wife's cousin this morning.  Her grandmother just got
pulled from the water by a copter.  Grandma decided to go for a drive.  She was
driving down a road following other people.  Course the road was flooded.  As
she inched her way through a semi went roaring through generating a huge wave.
The wave floated her car off the road and down stream.  Grandma, who is in her
70's, can't swim.  She somehow got out of the car and grabbed a tree.  90
minutes later a copter pulled her out of the water.  A local officer recognized
grandma, her purse/id is somewhere down stream in the car, and took her to my
mother in laws.   Grandma is very lucky to be alive.  Very.  Its been in the
high 70s and I'm sure the water is in the 60s.  We know what this combination
can do.....

I hope someone got the plate of the semi.  There are criminal charges waiting
for him.  He did not stop.

Now one can either laugh or cry at life take your pick.  But the image of
grandma flying through the air under a helecopter.......

Now for the good part.  Why was grandma traveling?  Did she need food?  Did she
need water?  No, she had a hair appointment!  Gotta laugh!

BigWater and cars don't mix.....
Dan McCarty


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