75 daily $1.

25 SUNDAY

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2016 y o u r n e ws s o u r c e S i n c e 1 8 8 2 kinston, NC

closed roads and shelters trump talk

Businesses, residents previously affected by Hurricane Trumps locker room talk comment
Floyd need to evacuate because they may be flooded. A2 strikes nerves among athetes. B1

Then and now: From Floyd to Matthew,

hurricane preparation and response changes
By Dustin George of what is happening.
Staff Writer Since before the storm hit, a variety of
When Hurricane Floyd hit Eastern North Facebook and Twitter pages, from the City
Carolina in 1999, it triggered what The Free of Kinstons official outlets, to Emergency
Press called The 500-Year Flood. The Services, Kinston Police and other social
media accounts have been updated regu-
flood would cause significant damage to
larly with releases on storm preparation,
more than 1,000 homes, flood another 2,500
evacuation information and other pertinent
homes and caused more than $300 million
information.
in damages. Those are just things that didnt hap-
By Friday, Kinston expects to be hit by the pen before, Sears said. Before, if some-
worst flood since Floyd. one couldnt hear an announcement live,
Waters in the Neuse River are projected how would you communicate that to
to break the 26-foot mark, one foot less than everyone?
the levels experienced nearly two decades Communication isnt the only area the city
ago. has improved.
While the results of Floyd and Matthew Following Saturdays storm and the rise
are expected to be similar water damaged A City of Kinston water reclamation truck drives over the Lincoln Street bridge Monday as a car turns of the river over the weekend, much of the
homes and businesses, flooding and prop- around to avoid the water. Residents in flood zones are being told to evacuate. Photo by Janet S. Neuseway Nature Center was under water
erty damage the way the city approaches Carter / The Free Press by Monday morning.
the two disasters has changed. While all of the non-native animals, fur-
A lot of the biggest changes are techno- said. The way we are able to communicate have done a pretty good job of using things
See theN AND NOW a2
logical, Tony Sears, Kinston city manager, with the public has changed, and I think we like Facebook to keep the people informed

FLOODING LENOIR COUNTY WATER LEVEL

Officials predict massive flooding How

flooding
happens

Water from the Neuse River is just feet away

from King Street on Monday. Photo by Janet
S. Carter / The Free Press
By Dustin George
Staff Writer

When there is no more room in the riv-

er, the water will flood the earth.
The Neuse River inches closer to the top of the King Street bridge as onlookers take in a view from Herritage Street on Monday. Photo by Janet S. Carter That is the projection for later this
/ The Free Press week, when the water of the Neuse River
is expected to rise to more than 26 feet
City and county officials begin evacuations Cancellations
in the wake of Hurricane Matthew, the
highest the river has been since Hurri-
Lenoir - canceled for cane Floyd in 1999.
By Michelle Taylor Weather Service at Newport- preparing their property and the week The level at which the river is high
Staff Writer Morehead has forecasted a rise family members for flooding and Greene - canceled for enough to flood is 14 feet. Monday, river
The City of Kinston and Lenoir to 26.3 feet on Friday. evacuation. the week waters broke the 20-foot mark, and are
Lenoir County officials said This is going to be a very dan- Lenoir - Community expected to continue to rise.
County officials ordered a man- College - canceled for the week
datory evacuation for residents severe impacts comparable to gerous, life-threatening flood Despite no rain falling since the storms
Jones - canceled today
and businesses along the Neuse flooding from Floyd in 1999. and homes will be damaged, passing on Saturday, water levels of the
River Monday afternoon. We are encouraging individu- Lenoir County Emergency Ser- river continue to rise, thanks to a combi-
This is very serious, and we nation of water runoff and ground water
According to the press release als to start preparing now, said vices Director Roger Dail said. want to treat it as such, said
sent out by Lenoir County Emer- Kinston City Manager Tony Although some residents were feeding into the Neuse.
Kinston Mayor B.J. Murphy. You have to do a calculation there, and
gency Services as of Monday at 5 Sears. not affected by Floyd in 1999
if the volume (of water) exceeds what
a.m. the Neuse River at Kinston Officials are asking residents officials ask all residents to be
See EVAC A2 the river can hold, the water has to go
was at 20.8 feet. The National who live in flood zones to begin prepared. somewhere, said Hans Paerl, professor
of marine and environmental sciences at
the UNC Chapel Hill Institute of Marine
Sciences in Moorehead City.
GiIVING UP ON TRUMP? Paerl has been studying the Neuse
since the 1980s, and said he and his col-

Ryan focusing on saving GOP majority leagues are closely eyeing the rise of the
waters in Kinston.
While a lot of comparisons are being
drawn between Floyd and the expected
Julie Pace, Erica Werner and Steve People trolled Congress, according to people on his seen crucial field efforts for the candidate
flooding resulting from Matthew, Paerl
The Associated Press private conference call with GOP House in battleground states. On a conference call
said its hard to tell what to expect from
WASHINGTON | House Speaker Paul members. While the Wisconsin Republi- with RNC members, chairman Reince Prie-
this weeks expected flooding.
Ryan, the nations top elected Republican, can did not formally rescind his own tepid bus said the party remains in full coordina-
The issue with Floyd was that the
effectively abandoned Donald Trump Mon- endorsement of Trump, he told lawmakers tion with Trump.
Everything is on course, Priebus said, storm stuck around quite a bit longer
day, telling anxious fellow lawmakers he they were free to do just that and fight for
according to a participant in the call. than this storm did, he said. (Floyd) got
will not campaign for or defend the floun- their own re-election. stuck over the eastern part of the state
dering businessman in the elections closing Trump fired back on Twitter, saying Ryan Still, Ryans announcement underscored
the perilous predicament Republicans find for some time before moving on, and it
weeks. Pro-Trump members rebelled in an- should spend more time on balancing the also covered a much larger section of the
ger, accusing Ryan of conceding the election budget, jobs and illegal immigration and themselves in one month from Election Day.
Recent revelations of Trumps predatory state.
to Hillary Clinton. not waste his time on fighting Republican The difference in time is an important
Indeed, Ryan said he would devote his en- nominee. sexual comments about women deepened
one in determining how much flooding
ergy to ensuring Clinton doesnt get a blank Trump retained the backing of the Repub-
check as president with a Democratic-con- lican National Committee, which has over- See gop A4 See flood A2

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