In September of 1999 Hurricane Floyd came through
With a deluge of water flooding the land
The Tar River expanded filling every classroom
The school I had taught in swam in six feet of water
What came next was wet books, mold and YUCK!
As you can see the results of Hurricane Floyd devastated Eastern North Carolina. I retired from teaching the year before after being at this school for the past twenty years. Being only a mile away from the river, we were on the high side of the flood plane. After receiving twelve inches of rain in two days, there was nowhere for the water to go. The old school was torn down and a new two-story building was built on the site. With block, concrete, and steel, it should be able to survive another flood if needed.
This past September Hurricane Florence came and sat on Wilmington, NC for three days dumping rain all over the surrounding region. Seems like Hurricanes, flooding, yucky mold, and mildew are part of choosing to live on the East Coast of North and South Carolina.
Today for d’Verse, De Jackson asked us to write a Quadrille of 44 words using the word yuck! Join us at: https://dversepoets.com
Roth Poetry 
So so sad.
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Yes it was very heard to see it go!
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Must have been surreal to watch it be torn down, Dwight.
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Hard to believe!
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That must have been awful for you! So sorry. A true image of yuck!
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I was retired at the time, but it was sad to see all that history go down the drain!
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A sad story. I hadn’t thought of the yucky mold that would follow such devastation.
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The temps were still in the 70s and 80s F and the mold and mildew grew very well. Not some place you would want to try to clean up and send your children to each day.
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My highschool was torn down, so I empathize with the empty feeling of loss. It’s almost as if a chunk of your past is gone.
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It really is!
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It’s a tragedy of such flooding… and I imagine how it must be for students and teachers.
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I don’t think the school kids are back in school where the flooding was the worst.
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Floods can be damaging. Drainage systems don’t always carry the water away fast enough.
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Especially when it is a large amount!
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Buildings are the keepers of memories and moments and when they are razed, I have often wondered where those memories go. I once wrote a poem about a razing that addressed that question. You bring imagery to this that is terribly real. I am watching the track of Michael and thinking of y’all. Where will NC put more rain?
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We are only supposed to get about three inches here in the Charlotte area, but further east they are expected to get considerably more. It is not a good outlook.
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Spent time up your way (Fayetteville/Spring Lake), so it was hard to watch all the devastation. It seems like it hits home when there’s memories attached. We live with the threat of hurricanes, but never expect them to camp out and dump like that one did. Good writing — sad inspiration.
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Thanks Charley. Fayetteville really got hit hard with Florence!
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I know. I saw. 😦
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When Hurricane Irene dropped a deluge in our area, one of the homes a block or two away was surrounded by water. It looked like a castle with a moat! I feel the sorrow in this one, Dwight!
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Thanks Frank. They rose from the ashes (or should I say from the muck!) and now have a new school. Yes, It was very sad.
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This is so tragic 😥
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It was, but it ended up with a whole new building in the end.
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