Reporting from central North Carolina here. We're in the state capital and were off the grid for two and a half days, and others in town are still without power. The looming problem in N.C. (and it is still looming) is the flow of rainwater back toward the coast that is building up and causing serious widespread flooding toward the coast. I think the death toll is at 19 and probably not over. People always react to the incredible winds in hurricanes, which do take their toll in injuries and lives, but far and away the worst effects on human life are from the flooding that comes later. This was true in Floyd in 1999, and before that in Fran in 1996. The terrible lesson is, don't drive in water. It's always tempting but sometimes fatal. A footnote: My wife covered the Mississippi flood in northeastern Missouri in 1993 and was out with a boater and several others observing the flooding. The driver went under some overhanging power lines and one hit my wife in the neck and she came near being beheaded. She lost a lot of blood and was stitched back together. "I was born in this hospital," she told the doctor who stitched her up. "Well, you won't be dying here today," he said. Two days later she was back on the water (with a more seasoned boatsman) taking notes for her report. In photos, she looks a shade of pale blue green.
