In North Carolina, the towns of Rocky Mount, Goldsboro, and Kinston sustained massive damage. Belhaven, Greenville, Tarboro, Washington, and Wilson experienced severe flooding. In this unprecedented disaster 55,000 homes were damaged, including 17,000 uninhabitable and 7,000 destroyed. Fifty-two people died. Most survivors have plowed through a frustrating maze of paperwork, but for many with limited resources rebuilding is just beginning.
Most people are still nowhere near returning to their homes.
Hundreds of houses still stand abandoned. Thousands stand in need of repairs, minor and major. Hundreds of families still live in FEMA trailers, unable to return to their damaged houses. George Strunk serves as coordinator. In July 2000 Dale and Jean Peercy were brought in to provide volunteer coordination and site work preparation.