State and federal officials can only guess how deeply the damage has ripped the economic and environmental fabric of Eastern North Carolina. In those counties, state officials could locate only 986 vacant housing units. The search continues for sites in Pitt, Edgecombe, Wilson, Wayne, Pender and Duplin counties to place travel trailers to serve as temporary housing. About 120 coffins unearthed from cemeteries by floodwaters. 13,690 inquiries about federal Disaster Unemployment Assistance had been received through Thursday.
Little victories make the difference in such a world.
Across the flooded region, church services were held Sunday wherever a dry spot could be found, from parking lots to day-care centers to shelters. At an Edgecombe County shelter, the smiles came last week when someone opened a box of donated yo-yos. Adults and children walked around slinging the toys with abandon. And at the shelter in the Martin Middle School gym in east Tarboro, signs of new community were born. Jeanette Walters tosses away ruined papers at her Goldsboro home Sunday morning.