Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Trump comforts Carolinas
‘We will never forget your loss,’ president tells residents
NEW BERN, N.C. — President Donald Trump handed out hot dogs, hugs and comforting words in the Carolinas on Wednesday as he surveyed the wreckage left by Hurricane Florence.
With residents still recovering from torrential rains that left widespread destruction and injury, Trump sought to strike a balance between comforter and cheerleader.
During a packed day, Trump visited both North and South Carolina, distributed meals at a church, walked amid piles of sodden furniture in damaged neighborhoods, offered hugs and handshakes to residents and discussed the response efforts with local and state officials.
“America grieves with you and our hearts break for you. God bless you,” he said during a briefing at a marine base in Havelock, N.C. “We will never forget your loss. We will never leave your side. We’re with you all the way.”
The emotional words and comprehensive itinerary stood in contrast with Trump’s trip to Puerto Rico
last year after Hurricane Maria, when he drew criticism for tossing rolls of paper towels into the crowd. Or his initial visit to Houston after Hurricane Harvey, when he did not meet with any storm victims.
Neverthless, exhaustion and frustration are building in the Carolinas as thousands of people wait to go home days after Hurricane Florence unleashed epic floods blamed for at least 37 deaths, including those of two women who drowned when a sheriff’s van taking them to a mental health facility was swept off a road.
There wasn’t any presidential fanfare 100 miles inland in Fayetteville, N.C. There, Roberta and Joseph Keithley had been sleeping on cots set up in a school classroom since Friday. They still didn’t know if their home was ruined.
“It’s getting a little frustrating, but you have to deal with it and roll with the punches,” said Roberta Keithley, 73. “It’s just another hurdle to get over in life.”
To the south, daybreak brought a return of floodwaters to Nichols, S.C., which also was inundated by Hurricane Matthew two years ago. The flooding from Florence had subsided, only to get worse again.
Access improved to Wilmington, a North Carolina port city of 120,000 that was cut off for days by
high water.
But officials said they don’t know when evacuees would be able to return home, and it may be next week before conditions improve drastically since the Cape Fear River isn’t expected to crest at the city until Monday or Tuesday.
“Understand: There is a
lot of water inland, and it is continuing to make its way downstream,” county manager Chris Coudreit said.
Nearly 3 feet of rain fell in places, and dozens of cities had more than 10 inches of rain. Roads remained dangerous, and some were still being closed as swollen rivers emptied toward the
ocean.
North Carolina officials said about 7,800 people remained in shelters, down from about 10,000 on Monday despite Gov. Roy Cooper’s plea to stay put.
Some of those who left shelters may have been headed toward the coast on U.S. 421, where a long line of
cars, utility crews and trucks loaded with generators sat in a jam.
About 161,000 homes and businesses were still without electricity in North Carolina, around a quarter of them in the county where Wilmington is located. An estimated 900,000 homes and businesses lost power in the Carolinas and Virginia.
Trump made his whirlwind tour through the Carolinas five days after the storm. North and South Carolina both backed Trump in the 2016 election, and the president largely saw people who were happy to greet him.
There were still flashes of Trump’s outsized persona and unconventional style — he asked about the status of Lake Norman, where he owns a golf club, telling officials, “I can’t tell you why, but I love that area.”
He also joked with a family who had a large yacht they didn’t own wash up against their house. “At least you got a nice boat out of the deal,” he told them. “What’s the law? Maybe it becomes theirs.”
Trump later traveled to Conway, S.C., where more flooding is expected. He toured a neighborhood where a street was already submerged under water.
“Is everybody OK?” he asked those gathered, assuring them it was “going to be OK.”
“Lot of money coming from Washington,” he promised.
North Carolina’s farmers, meanwhile, are beginning to count up their losses. The flooding has killed an estimated 3.4 million chickens and 5,500 hogs, authorities said. Farmers are also concerned about cotton, sweet potatoes, peanuts and corn, but swamped roads and fields have made it difficult to assess the damage.