As the clean up from Hurricane Irene gets underway, it’s interesting to see how different people handle it.
Amy Jones Rains and Victor Jones, Jr. load up logs from trees that fell down in Caton
There are some who are pleading for help. Mostly from the government. To bring food and water, clear roads and restore electricty.
Sunday, while trying to get updates on the storm for my station, I called Beaufort County’s interm county manager Jim Chrisman. We had recieved numerous calls from people between Chocowinity and Aurora who had no water. Chrisman explained that Department of Transportaion and forestry crews were coming in to clear roads to help get to busted water lines so they could be repaired.
Later I thought, if you have to wait for the government, you’ll be waiting a long time.
Another phone call I answered left another bad thought. One lady, who actually lives about 6 miles from me, had called to say how she and her husband were cut off from flooding. Then she asked, “Do you want to hear a rumor?” I told her that we couldn’t report on it until it was confirmed, but I’d listen. “I hear the National Guard is coming in and they might declare martial law.”
Figuratively, my jaw dropped.
I hadn’t considered the real possibilty that because of all the widespread damage across eastern North Carolina tht martial law could be declared.
So far it hasn’t, but it’s still a possibilty, especially in hard hit areas like Pamlico County.
While this may seem a little off point, it’s really not. That possibility and those waiting for the government brought to mind a quote from Ronald Regan: “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.'”
If most people in the east had waited for the government, I wouldn’t have been able to get home Sunday after spending two days and three nights stuck at the station.
It was the people in the neighborhood, my cousins, uncles, distant relatives and others that broke out the chainsaws and cleared the roadways. It was the local people in most parts of the area, especially the rural sections,
A DOT crew dodges a low hanging power line on Saints Delight Church Road near Rowe's Corner
that cleared the way for the DOT trucks to come in.
Going back to the lack of water in Beaufort County. Although the county had set up a water filling station 20 miles away in Chocowinity, some people in the Aurora area were unable to get there to fill up their jugs. Members of the Rim Ryders Car and Truck Club from Bertie County came down to deliver water and ice to those who are without, according to NewsChannel 12. One of the members said they would be coming back all week.
It should be noted that parts of Bertie County were devastated by tornados in April.
People helping people. That’s the way it should be. Not relying on the government to help you out of every scrape.
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