He got to see our issues, and hopefully he’ll continue his support of our needs and requests as we move through the recovery.” “I know he was going to speak with the DOT secretary when he got back about the log jam. 701 bridge and the cemetery in Elizabethtown, and a few other random spots. Kinlaw said he showed the governor areas of Clarkton, downtown Bladenboro, the dike issue in Kelly, the logjam at the U.S.

“We just had two 500-year floods within 23 months. “We have put out $750 million in helping for Matthew,” Cooper said of the October 2016 hurricane. “Now they have nothing.”Ĭooper said the state is working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency on temporary sheltering, and long-term affordable housing. “A lot of folks I talked to didn’t have a lot before the storm,” he said. We have neighbors who are determined to help each other.”Ĭooper took notice of the counties and their poverty level. “The heartening thing is the unshakeable spirit of the people of eastern North Carolina. “I’ve seen many homes, businesses, churches - all under water. “I’ve been in Duplin and Bladen counties today, and it’s pure devastation,” Cooper said after his Bladenboro stop. He expressed appreciation to those who had come to help. He moved about showing compassion, asking about people’s homes and their families. The curfew and evacuation order for Kelly was lifted Wednesday.Ĭooper spoke with some of the 41 evacuees still at the shelter in Clarkton, with residents at Bladenboro and with Red Cross workers and other volunteers. He said DOT had a contractor begin work there Wednesday on a temporary road that should be done within a couple of days after that, a solution for a permanent road will be found. White Oak Road was completely devastated for several hundred feet because of the breach, Kinlaw said. The location is directly behind the Kelly Volunteer Fire Department and the post office, about a half-mile from downtown. And that’s just one of several,” he said. Kinlaw said the depth of the gash is not fully known due to standing water. We’re going to be requesting money to get the dike put back together.” What I really tried to impress on him was this big hole in the dike is why it was flooded. Today, the water has gone down and today wasn’t the same image as before. “A lot of devastated area,” Kinlaw said of Kelly. Washington Primary School in Clarkton, continued in Bladenboro at a distribution point for supplies and meals, and concluded by air in this southeastern hamlet. “You could probably drive two 18-wheelers side-by-side through it,” said Kinlaw, the Bladen County Emergency Management Department director.Ĭooper’s visit began at the former Booker T. Roy Cooper on a flight tour over this community on Wednesday, pointing out the spot where an earthen dike built after a 1945 flood breached.

Wooten metal storm shelter