Note: Media are welcome to cover the program.

Tales of Hurricane Floyd to be aired, more gathered, at Grifton forum

By STEPHANIE GUNTER
UNC News Services

CHAPEL HILL --"The water came up almost to my chest, and I (had) just stepped down to the third step on the deck, so you know that water had to be high … It was terrifying. I would never want anybody to experience something like that."

Such was the experience of Renee Lee of Pender County when Hurricane Floyd flooded eastern North Carolina in fall 1999. Her description was one of more than 40 gathered later from residents of the region by University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researchers.

Now the researchers, from the UNC Southern Oral History Program, plan to share those stories and seek more in a free public program and discussion Oct. 18 at 2 p.m. at the Grifton Historical Museum in Grifton. They will display photographs, play a 20-minute recording of some of the most striking quotes from the interviewees and share overall themes discovered. Town Mayor Timothy Bright also will speak.

Then the researchers will ask residents to discuss lessons learned from the floods and subsequent cleanup efforts. They will compile the comments into a report to interviewees, government officials and volunteer groups in hopes that it will help improve relief plans for future disasters.

"I think it is important to get the community together to share our interviews with them," said Katie Otis, a UNC doctoral candidate in history who led the project. "It gives them a chance to hear their neighbors’ stories, and we hope it will aid in the healing process."

The interviews, with flood victims, emergency responders and government officials, were conducted between fall 1999 and spring 2003. Photographer Rob Amberg and Charlie Thompson, formerly with UNC and now with the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University, focused on cleanup and recovery immediately after the flood.

Leda Hartman, a freelance reporter, and Otis examined the flood’s effects on life patterns, family connections and social support networks of the region’s elderly.

"Interviewees mourned the loss of irreplaceable photographs, letters, diaries and other objects of memory," Otis said. "But they chose to emphasize not just the suffering but also appreciation for the efforts of volunteers and the comfort derived from religious faith."

Tapes and transcripts from the interviews and a copy of the final report will be stored in the Southern Historical Collection at Carolina’s Wilson Library. The records will be open to the public and some photographs also will be available.

"The Southern Oral History Program is delighted to present this public forum, which represents our opportunity to give back to the people of eastern North Carolina," said Joe Mosnier, program associate director and a history doctoral student. "By contributing interviews, they have taught us so much about the experience and implications of the great flood of 1999."

For more information on the program, please contact the program office at (919) 962-0455 or info@sohp.org.

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(Gunter, of Raleigh, is a senior majoring in journalism and mass communication.)

Contact: Katie Otis, (919) 962-0455
News Services Contact: L.J. Toler, (919) 962-8589, laura_toler@unc.edu.