Wilmington residents Line up for water, food
(18 Sep 2018) Still stranded by Florence's epic floods days after the hurricane hit North Carolina, Wilmington residents lined up by the hundreds Tuesday for free food, water and tarps as officials struggled to open new routes to one of the state's largest cities. The death toll from the storm rose to at least 32 in three states, with 25 fatalities in North Carolina, as remnants of the once-powerful Category 4 hurricane - now reduced to a rainy, windy mass of low pressure - dumped rain on the heavily populated Northeast. Parts of southern New Hampshire and much of Massachusetts were under a flash flood warning, and a tornado warning was issued near Salem, Massachusetts. In Wilmington, population 120,000, workers began handing out supplies using a system that resembled a fast-food restaurant drive-thru: Drivers pulled up to pallets lining a street, placed an order and left without having to get out. "Yes. Getting relief from the stuff that we lost during the storm which is pretty bad. Our roof had holes in it. The food went bad in refrigerator and a deep freezer," Tony Kerrin, Wilmington NC resident said. Others got a case of bottled water or military MREs, or field rations. An olive-drab military forklift moved around huge pallets loaded with supplies. "We are giving them MRE's which are meals ready to eat. They are military grade meal packets. And each meal packet has a significant number of calories significant number of nutrition and they can be prepared and heated up just with water. So it's a complete meal kit. And also, each person gets a case of water," Lieutenant Marybeth Slocum of the Virginia Civil Air Patrol said. Four days after Florence blew ashore and began unloading more than 2 feet of rain that paralyzed much of North Carolina, Wilmington was still virtually cut off from the rest of the state, with just one road tentatively open as a supply route. Officials said they will open roads as flooding recedes and downed trees and power lines are cleared away. It's not clear when that might happen. Items have been brought into the city by big military trucks and helicopters, which also have been used to pluck hundreds of desperate people from atop homes and other structures. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: / ap_archive Facebook: / aparchives Instagram: / apnews You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...
