We took the pets & the clothes on our backs.. we just had to get out
Irish mum of two forced to flee deadly hurricane fears US home is destroyed
Sea batters New Bern in North Carolina Hunter, seven, and five-year-old girl Zoey plus their four dogs and cat. She said: “I wasn’t going to evacuate. For one I’ve never been through this.
“When that first band came in on Thursday morning – and that was just a mini storm off a band of the hurricane – and I saw how strong the wind got and how our driveway flooded and our power went, I knew we had to leave.
“They were about to start enforcing the mandatory curfew so I had about 30 minutes to get out of town.
“We left everything. I did not take anything but the kids, my laptop, charger and the dogs and cat. We just had the
Floods in New Bern Shop near Maryellen’s home clothes on our back. The kids are the most important. The house I don’t really care about or the stuff.”
Maryellen, who was due to start a new job in the local community college tomorrow, won’t know what damage has been caused until she returns home.
She added: “I just have to wait. I’m going to try to get home Sunday or Monday. The roads are impassable, that’s the problem. New Bern is submerged. A portion of the bridge into it collapsed.”
Maryellen, whose US Marine husband Joshua is currently based in California,
Duren home before the storm
COLLAPSE
said she was extremely worried before the hurricane struck. She added: “The anxiety and knowing this is off your coast and you’re going to get hit, it’s terrible. If Josh had been there it would have made it a lot less stressful.” Maryellen said the support in her US home town has been “amazing”. She added: “It’s basically like being back at home. The local community has been amazing. “The first responders, local police department, linemen and civilian volunteers have all pulled together and saved lives in our town. US President Donald Trump has declared a disaster in North Carolina amid warnings the worst is far from over. Florence’s top sustained winds have weakened to 80kmh but it is projected to bring further catastrophic flash flooding. Nearly a million households have no electricity in the Carolinas. news@irishmirror.ie Crews in North Carolina