Who knew? It was impossible to predict. It was highly unlikely. There was no reason to believe it would be so. It would not an event which could be reasonably anticipated. We issued flood warnings, what else could we do? They were warned. We sent warnings out by radio and TV, just like we do every time it rains hard. It is very unfortunate. Blah, blah, blah.

To the tune of "I Am Woman": I am government hear me bore By clerkish words which make you snore And I am lying through my teeth To make you sleeeeeep,

Cause I am Gub'mint! Yes I'm Gubmint!

Telling falsity Can't be lying cause,hey, it's me! Same for my cronies in industry After all, they fund every PAC

-- Puddintame (achillesg@hotmail.com), September 29, 1999

Answers

My formatting is worse than my songwriting.

-- Puddintame (achillesg@hotmail.com), September 29, 1999.

It seems that coastal NC was hit harder than anywhere else, but there seems to much less whinning coming out of there that from other parts. If NJ had been hit like NC, you would see people on TV everynight just crying buckets. It says something of the character of the people of NC

-- chicken farmer (chicken-farmer@ y2k.farm), September 29, 1999.

Hey guys, with 2 500 year floods in 2 weeks, any preparations stored would probably have been washed away in the flood anyhow. The lack of preps saved a lot of work. Look at the bright side.

-- Ed (Ed@bb.bbb), September 29, 1999.

Goldsboro...could it be that thr FEDS thought you were prepped because you live in the heart of the Eastern goldfields???

-- K. Stevens (kstevens@ It's ALL going away in January.com), September 29, 1999.

You can tell by my accent I'm not a native North Carolinian. But the way I understand it is, unless they grow tobacco, people living in the coastal plains have had a hardscrabble existence for generations--until the huge hog factories moved in. In the case of Goldsboro, Seymour Johnson AFB is a prime economic mover. Easertn North Carolinans have been used to a hard life; that's why you don't hear a lot of whining. But that's not to say they don't feel the hurt any less than you or I--they're just more stoic.

Here's one of the innumerable stories coming out of the area:

Wednesday September 29, 1999 10:12 AM Churches Help Churches Recover from Floyd's Floods

ROCKY MOUNT (WRAL) -- In times of need, many people turn to the church. Now, churches need help. Congregations spared by Hurricane Floyd are coming to the rescue of others not so fortunate.

Nearly everything inside the Metropolitan Baptist Church in Edgecombe County was destroyed by 4 feet of flood water. When it came time to clean up, there was no shortage of helping hands.

"We just accomplished a great deal because of the help," says church member Gail Jackson. "We couldn't have done it ourselves."

That help came in the form of money and members from the Church of the Good Shepherd in Raleigh. The effort is part of a new initiative called Church2Church.

The goal of the project is to get damaged churches, synagogues and mosques open and holding services as soon as possible.

"Some of the great things we learned from the folks here was their sense of hope and their realization that is a building, but it's not the church. The people who gather together are the church," says Rev. Bob Sawyer of the Church of the Good Shepherd.

Tipper Gore came to view the Church2Church initiative's first big success. She says it all comes down to neighbors helping neighbors.

"The government can never, ever, replace love, the warm embrace, somebody helping to clean the water and the mud from a church sanctuary," says Gore.

One of the few items to survive the flooding was a 34-year-old bible found dry and intact on the pulpit.

If you are interested in joining the Church2Church initiative call (888) 595-1459.

http://www.wral-tv.com/news/wral/1999/0928-church-to-church/

There are many more Floyd stories at the site. Rain is forecast to continue through some time tomorrow--some stricken areas have had an additional 8" of rain since Sunday. . .

-- Old Git (anon@spamproblems.com), September 29, 1999.

Puddintime,

Did you even read what you wrote? Was the government suppoed to somehow "majically know" somehow that a flood of that size would occur? And just how exactly were they supposed to do that? Maybe ylou think they are supposed use crystal balls or something to know when these things happen? What exactly did you expect them to do? How much do you expect them to know anyhow?

Or are you saying they did know and refused to do anything to prevent it?

Do you have the ability to use logic?

-- Cherri (sams@brigadoon.com), September 29, 1999.

Cherri- have you ever heard of Sarcasm??? I believe that is what was intended by this post.

-- Brent James Bushardt (brentj@webt.com), September 29, 1999.