Hurricane Florence Has Gone, but Challenges for the Carolinas Have Just Begun (23carolinas) (23carolinas)

Almost 4M poultry and 6K hogs perished during Florence and its aftermath ... these souls were locked in their squalid barns and left to drown during the rising floodwaters. This is animal abuse, pure & simple!

Wait...this can’t possibly still be an issue. Why would the President have shifted his attention to the Vaderite Commies in the FBI and that dratted uppity Dr. Ford girl if it were?

Hurricanes happen, they've been happening for millennia. It's the cost of living on the coast, as do I in Miami, Breathe in , breathe out....move on.

I've seen no mention of the Florence's effect on the Intracoastal Waterway. Is it still commercially important? Will it need to be re-dredged? Might be an interesting investigation.

I feel for my fellow Americans in the Carolinas. I would like to extend my thanks for the taxes they paid to help us out here in California when we experienced our wild fire disasters. Please allow us to help you in the same way in your time of need. Together we will survive.

Paying a lot of attention to articles on the flooded Carolinas. But why doesn't anybody ever mention animals? Are they not part of the picture, too? Among the imperiled? What about the deer, the cows, the horses, the pigs (not just chicken stock), the foxes, even the birds...how did they fare? Do they have such creatures there? Of course they do. How about a shout-out, a mere mention of non-human life?

The state governments of the Carolinas are an example of America’s dysfunctionality regarding climate change. They have in the past ignored scientific evidence. In spite of warnings even coming from their own universities they have refused to recognize the damage Carolinians are inflicting on themselves and those around them. For example, beginning in 2012, North Carolina lawmakers took actions that forced state and local agencies on the coast to ignore models that predict rising sea levels. This ignorance will have dire consequences not only for Carolinians (It just has with Florence) but for those living in coastal areas from Virginia down to Florida. Hurricanes will be more violent. By the turn of the century the Atlantic Ocean will be rising four to six and possibly eight feet. This will lead to flooding and destruction up and down the line including the city of Norfolk as well as the entire Chesapeake Bay Area. And this includes portions of Washington D.C. https://countercurrents.org/2018/09/20/florence-voter-apathy-in-the-amer...

America has a short attention span when it comes to news stories that linger for more than a week. Americans have other things to do than constantly worry about and keep tabs on this disaster. It's football season! College and pro! We're just a few weeks form the World Series! Trump said what? Gotta go check it out out on Jimmy, Stephen, Seth and Trevor! Time to start thinking about and planning for Halloween! Many stores already have Christmas stuff for sale! Yada, yada, yada.

It’s impossible to know if your coastal region is the one that might get hit only every 20 to 30 years or if it’ll be hit more frequently like the Houston region. And now we have to be as concerned about rising seas and sinkholes. Many years ago when I read about the money that had to be spent replenishing beaches, I decided I didn’t want to live on the shore. Thank heavens I never had a job that required me to. Sorry for all those people whose lives have been uprooted.

Condolences to those who lost loved ones.

We taxpayers who cannot be stupid or greedy enough to build too close to a coastline because we don't have one will pay 90% of the billions of dollars of expenses in rebuilding these communities. I for one don't want my money spent that way. There is a little check box on your income tax return asking if you want to donate three dollars to campaign funding. There should be another one for storm repair in southern states populated by pampered McMansionites who somehow believe that beachdwelling is their God-given right (to prove it, check out the Ten Commandments near the courthouse). Once that money is gone, the states or individuals pay their way. Maybe then these places would institute some sensible zoning laws.

I live between Conway and Myrtle Beach, SC, fortunately in a development that is not close to the rivers. We had flooding due to heavy rains but it has subsided now. Many are not as fortunate. A friend has emptied her home of furniture, moving it to a container at her synagogue. Others are in shelters. It can take up to 4 hours to pass through Conway, a small town, due to the road closures and flooding. Thank goodness for the National Guard, including gubernatorial candidate James Smith, who are filling sandbags, directing traffic and helping to evacuate and feed displaced people. BUT, looking forward, we must stop building in flood-prone areas, be they riverfronts or beachfronts. It doesn't make sense to keep rebuilding homes that keep flooding. Putting some homes on stilts helps, but even then many have to evacuate, though their homes and personal property may escape unscathed. Likewise, we need to stop building beachfront water barriers. These erode land and encourage more homebuilding. It's time to accept reality and allow nature the space it needs.

Total recovery will take a long time, after all in Texas there are still issues. Now I seem to recall that 1.6 million were without power and now it is under 400K and some of them still have water so could not be connected. The challenges have been met in many areas, and continue for say another month in others. Then the long process will begin but challenges will be much less.

As someone whose life was changed after a toxic mold exposure six years ago, my heart goes out to those flood survivors who, in addition to the loss of their belongings, likely now face an elevated risk of biotoxin illness from mold. Mainstream medicine often dismisses or misdiagnoses the symptoms. Fortunately a group of medical professionals with experience in recognizing and treating these types of illnesses have created a nonprofit society to educate other doctors. I have no affiliation with ISEAI.org, however my own mold exposure experience has taught me the value of their goals. Interestingly, this internationally represented group is based out of North Carolina. My strongest wish is that not one more person joins me in the biotoxin illness club.

"Gov. Roy Cooper of North Carolina, a Democrat, must also prove himself after criticism that his administration spent only a fraction of disaster funding (from Hurricane Matthew)..." This isn't a good thing? The damage from Matthew was repaired and lives righted. He used that money to also prepare the state for "the next one" everyone in North Carolina knows is around the corner. The hog farms connected to the hog ponds employ 1000's of eastern North Carolinians. For years, the state of NC has invested in alternative employment centers like Global Transpark, new Ports at Morehead City and Wilmington, the University of North Carolina / Wilmington, and the East Carolina University Medical Center. In conjunction with stricter rules for these facilities, progressive North Carolinians like Governor Cooper need help to get the GOP carpetbaggers who have stopped progress out of the NC General Assembly.

The full burden of this disaster, like others, will be carried by the most vulnerable, impoverished, and disenfranchised among us.

The camera crews have left and the TV commentators are back in Washington covering the chaos of the Trump administration.Now it is up to North and South Carolina to solve almost insurmountable problems.Most of the casualties in Puerto Rico occurred not during the hurricane but in the days and weeks thereafter when the environment was not livable.So many will suffer so long from this catastrophic storm-we would be advised to pay attention to their struggles and their pleas for help.

EPA staff, funding and resources have been cut dramatically in the last 20 months making environmental recovery potentially non-existent. But, people cheered for this at Trump rallies, and now they have the consequences.

Hog waste pouring out of storage lagoons. Three million dead chickens. Coal ash flowing into rivers. It's pretty hard to close the door after the pig waste/carcasses/ash have already escaped. The job now is to spend billions of taxpayer dollars to clean up the mess. But once it's all back to "normal," I guess the hog and chicken and coal industries will continue contributing money to Republicans, so they can avoid "crippling regulations" that interfere with their profits. They sure got what they paid for. Too bad Carolinians will suffer and the rest of us will pay.

Recovery from a catastrophic event like this will take years, if not a decade. Entire communities have had their residents displaced, their homes and businesses ruined, and their economies decimated. The homes have to be repaired or rebuilt before they are habitable, with money that most of the former residents just don't have. Jobs that used to be there are no longer there. Local towns and counties that used to rely on sales taxes are going to take a big hit in their budgets, for years to come. All in all, there will be no quick recovery. It will be slow and painful, just like it was on the Gulf Coast after KATRINA.