NC flooding: How 200 neighbors became their own heroes

via WordPress http://ift.tt/2ddTB3C

Rowland, North Carolina (CNN)Jasmine Thompson couldn’t sleep, and who could blame her. Floodwaters fed by Hurricane Matthew were slowly rising on the grounds of her apartment complex. The sound of the rushing water kept her awake — and worried.

She thought to herself, “We can’t stay in here.”

Earlier that evening Thompson and her fellow residents at the Lumbee Homes housing complex in southwest Lumberton, North Carolina, had repeatedly called 911, begging for rescue before the waters got too deep. But help never came, they say, so around daybreak the next morning, Thompson and the other 200 or so residents engineered their own rescue.

He told everyone to get to the gym, which was the farthest point in the school away from the water.

Within a few hours, and after repeated trips back and forth, Lumbee Homes’ residents were finally safe in that elementary school’s gym.

“We saved ourselves,” McQueen said. “Everybody that’s in there is a hero.”

After staying in the gym for about two hours, the group was eventually transported by bus to a shelter at South Robeson High School in Rowland, about 14 miles away.

Living in a shelter

And now they wait, thankful to be alive, but worried about the future. Last anyone had heard, the apartments were completely submerged under Matthew’s waters, so they probably don’t have a home to go back to.

They spend their time in a high school gym — decorated yellow, blue and white — that has water and food, but no power, so it’s dark inside. Power outages are still widespread in the area, so the shelter is running off of a single generator, powering just a couple of lights and a solitary TV near the door.

Accommodations here are less then plush: They have to use one of the 11 portable toilets set up outside to use the bathroom. For now, they’re using baby wipes to clean up with.

But they were making the best of their situation Wednesday, personally thanking the many people from the community who come by dropping off donations. Kids run around seemingly everywhere, laughing and playing with toys. Thompson takes a small group of them, puts them in a circle, gives them pen and paper and works with them on learning numbers and shapes. Anything to pass the time.

Many of the people there expressed hope that FEMA (the Federal Emergency Management Agency) would come in and get them all into a more permanent housing situation.

Pearson said the people at Lumbee Homes weren’t the most close-knit of neighbors before this tragedy happened. But something about wading together through chest-deep floodwater has a way of forging bonds that won’t easily be broken.

“We know each other now,” she said.

Read more: http://ift.tt/2e8s68J

The post NC flooding: How 200 neighbors became their own heroes appeared first on MavWrek Marketing by Jason