Historic town swamped, 22 dead in North Carolina flooding

Hurricane Matthew killed more than 500 people in Haiti and at least 27 in the USA – more than half of them in North Carolina.

Gov. Pat McCrory on Thursday made an aerial tour of Princeville, one of the country’s oldest towns charted by African-Americans. Flooding has killed up to 5 million poultry birds, majority chickens, in a blow to the local economy, said North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality Secretary Donald van der Vaart.

Federal disaster declaration received for 34 counties. Among them: the valley below Wood Lake Dam, about 20 miles northwest of Fayetteville, which has been reinforced but remains in danger of failing. I saw people who are resilient; people who are caring; people who are risking their life to save other people.

“We are going to have to rebuild a town in Princeville”, McCrory said. Our teams are working diligently to mitigate these logistical issues, and our facilities are operating at full capacity in Virginia, and at a reduced rate in North Carolina. “Stay out of the water”. There are now six shelters established in Robeson County alone. Some neighborhoods are cut off. Swamps, creeks and rivers are still rising flooding even more areas and slowing the recession of high water. Numerous rivers in central and eastern North Carolina have already reached record, or near-record, levels according to reports coming from the state.

The state has rushed emergency personnel and resources to Robeson County.

A total of 300 FEMA workers are on the ground in North Carolina taking part in the recovery process. A man in Robeson County died after he fell into a hole created by a fallen tree. Wal-Mart is providing aid by shipping 30 day supplies of pharmaceuticals to the shelters.

Three kennels in the Charlotte area need help handling 72 dogs moved to North Carolina from the Charleston, South Carolina, area as Hurricane Matthew approached. Peak flood levels are forecast over the next couple days in five counties as the Tar, Neuse and Cape Fear rivers crest at various locations. Those in Horry and Beaufort counties are not because of power problems.

Since Sunday, there have been at least 80 air rescues, and thousands are displaced, CBS News correspondent Manuel Borjorquez reports.

An additional death was also reported in Dillon County, South Carolina, that state’s governor said at a press conference, bringing the number of deaths in that state to four.

Jimmy Pollock, production manager for J.C. Howard in Deep Run, North Carolina, said cleanup from Hurricane Matthew is “hectic and stressful”.

The swollen Neuse River – cutting through coastal flatlands south of Greenville – underscores the flood threats facing parts of the state for the coming days even as rescue teams try to move people out of danger and utility crews work to restore power to almost 200,000 customers.

The floodwaters have forced more than 3,800 residents to flee to shelters, closed down stretches of major interstate highways and shuttered 34 school systems, North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory told reporters in Raleigh.