Made it through Florence fine. Minimal damage. No structure damage to the house at all. Outbuildings had minimal also. Three feet of water under house, trees down, debris and neighbors shingles everywhere. The town sewer system ran over and everything on ground contaminated with fecal matter. Been ruthless with discarding items.

All my tenants have been advised not to salvage anything on the ground. It has to be discarded. Place on side of the road and the town will pick it up later. (I have one tenant that is a "hoarder" or "pack rat." He likes to go to yard sales and purchase "junk," bring it here and throw it down to use later. He never uses it. It all has to go or he has to go).

I was blessed. One of my cousins in Duplin County had water to the top of the windows in his house from the Northeast Cape Fear River. The house is over one hundred years old and is destroyed.

Glad you came through ok. There's something to be said for living on a boat. :)

Bill,

Good advice.

When our town flooded (water was my eye-level inside the living area), adter the water subsided the slimy mud SMELLED differently in each area. I suspect this was from different pollutants overflowing and washing around.

It took several heavy rains to naturally wash away this slim.

Bill, glad to hear it worked out for you. I was concered. Topsail got hit hard.

Whenever I see flooding pictures on the news and folks are letting their kids out in it or are walking through it without boots...I just cringe. After Irene our Sound turned BLACK with contaminents and being so far from an ocean inlet it has taken years to clear out...

Now, after Florence, they are really learning what happens during/after a flood. This was such an environmental disaster...the hog farms, the coal ash, the dams overflowing. The Neuse River is totally contaminated, as is Cape Fear...

Thank you so much, Bill, for having shared how you are doing, and I am so relieved that you, your place, and your tenants were lucky and survived such an awful event. It was smart of you to issue your warning to your tenants too, especially to the hoarder.

I am so sorry for your cousin and for his house. The news about him and the devastation is terrifying.