TARBORO, N.C. -- More rain fell on North Carolina Tuesday, a dismal and unwelcome sight to Isabelle Baker and other owners of more than 30,000 homes damaged from the floods following Hurricane Floyd.
Baker did find comfort in the words of President Clinton, who said during a visit to Tarboro on Monday that the government would stand by those displaced by the deluge."It was a blessing for him to come here," said Baker, whose home is submerged in nearby Princeville. "I really believe he will get all he can to help us."
Up to 1 1/2 inches of rain fell before dawn Tuesday. But it wasn't the deluge some had feared in a region that was soaked by 20 inches of rain last week by Hurricane Floyd. And Tropical Storm Harvey, which had been expected to bring more moisture, turned south across Florida on a track that would take it out in the Atlantic, away from the Carolinas.
More than 60 people were killed from the Bahamas into New England when Floyd charged up the East Coast. In hardest hit North Carolina, at least 36 people have died and two people are missing and presumed dead.
The governor's office said at least 1,600 homes are damaged beyond repair. An estimated 1,500 people were still stranded, but most were not in life-threatening situations. Some 10,000 are already in shelters.
Preliminary damage figures estimate the price tag for damage at $1.3 billion, but it may exceed the $6 billion total for Hurricane Fran in 1996, the state's costliest natural disaster in which 24 people died.
"It has become painfully clear that Hurricane Floyd, combined with Hurricane Dennis, is shaping up to be the worst disaster North Carolina has ever seen, and I hope we'll ever see again," state public safety secretary Richard Moore said.
Thousands of people remain unable to return home because of flooding that has virtually shut down the coastal plain east of Raleigh, an area spanning 18,000 square miles and containing 2.1 million people.
Clinton toured Tarboro, one of the hardest hit towns in an area drenched by more than 2 feet of rain from two hurricanes in two weeks.
"I urge you to keep your spirits up and know we're going to be with you every step of the way," Clinton told several hundred people. He announced emergency food stamps and unemployment payments for families in need, the hiring of temporary workers for the cleanup and low-interest loans for farmers.
"When things like this happen to some of us," the president said, "we know they could happen to all of us. We know we have a responsibility as members of the American family to help you get back on your feet again."