Early returns are that Hurricane Florence surpassed Hurricane Matthew in the devastation it has delivered to Robeson County and our storm-weary residents.
We believe, however, the recovery will be easier this time. Perhaps that is wishful thinking, but what choice do we have except to try to stay positive and determined?
Our glass-half-full attitude is based on more than crossing our fingers. We have been there, done that, and possess a playbook from Matthew that can be tweaked to avoid past mistakes.
There are tangible examples already.
Although the rains were heavier and the flooding worse with Florence, as we write this, Lumberton’s water plant is functioning, although residents are being asked to conserve. Keep conserving, as city officials say that is helping to preserve the supply.
City officials at the last minute fortified the plant to defend it against Florence’s floodwaters, and the plant, which was offline for a month after Matthew, is still operating. Each inch that the Lumber River retreats will only bring the plant closer to again operating at full capacity.
Should the worst happen, city officials say that they have a workaround plan, perhaps the same as after Matthew when water was trucked in and shoved through the system.
Everyone in Robeson County has access to clean water, although the county advises boiling what comes from its system before consuming it. Those who lived without water, even for a brief period, during Matthew, understand how critical H2O is to achieving any degree comfort.
The number of homes and businesses without power has declined quickly as utility workers do their jobs heroically, ignoring very real and present dangers. Most of the power in Lumberton and Red Springs has been restored, as well as for customers of Lumbee River Electric Membership Corporation. Duke Energy on Tuesday still had about 8,000 customers without power, down from a high of 20,000 or so, but the favorable weather and retreating waters should help those numbers come down quickly.
We don’t have a reliable way to quantify, but it appears to us that aid has gotten to the county more quickly than following Matthew. There are numerous efforts to provide people food, and already Lumberton has a warehouse operating for people to donate items that can be distributed later to those in need. The county will follow soon with its distribution center.
This is not to diminish the suffering. It is immense again in South and West Lumberton, which are in peril of becoming ghost towns. When the time is right, the city must move quickly and aggressively to place floodgates under the Interstate 95 overpass where CSX trains travel. If that means the Governor’s Office must step in to capture right-of-way, then so be it.
But the best lesson from Matthew might be found in hastening the relief to those who have lost so much or everything. Almost two years after Matthew and before Florence arrived, there was growing angst over the state’s inability to deliver federal dollars intended to help Robeson County residents and businesses get back on their feet.
While fingers were pointed in all directions in an effort to gain political capital, there simply cannot be a repeat of this performance. Relief dollars need to get here swiftly, without the delay we have seen with Matthew.
Should that not happen, it would surpass unconscionable and approach criminal.