![[e-mail]](http://wwwcache.wral.com/presentation/v2/images/header/email-15x10.gif){kind=small}
Subscribe
Hurricane Floyd struck North Carolina on Sept. 16, 1999, just 10 days after Tropical Storm Dennis dumped 6 to 16 inches of rain across the eastern part of the state.
The ground was already saturated when Floyd dumped another 12 to 20 inches of rain. Rivers overflowed their banks and floodwaters began to cover roads and inundate entire communities.
Floyd killed 52 people in North Carolina – most of whom drowned as they tried to flee to higher ground in their cars. More than 87,000 people registered with the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
The floods destroyed about 8,000 homes and damaged more about 67,000. About 12,000 businesses were damaged.
The flooding caused about $6 billion in property damage and halted agricultural production in eastern North Carolina, causing more than $1 billion in farm losses. The floods killed nearly 3 million chickens and turkeys and more than 30,000 hogs.
Ten years later, many communities affected by the devastating floods still haven't fully recovered.
Some say the program is almost done. Others say staff cuts could let flood data become inaccurate over time.
The Rocky Mount Housing Authority lost 200 public housing units in Hurricane Floyd. Now, nearly eight years after the flood, the Housing Authority plans to build 50 new apartments.
State investigators have finished a 10-month investigation into how Princeville spent some federal relief money after Hurricane Floyd.
As many as 16 tornadoes were reported to have moved through that area late Sunday afternoon, and there were at least 13 reports of minor injuries – including six in Onslow County.
On Friday, a group of volunteers put the finishing touches on a new sanctuary for St. Paul AME Zion church. The building was destroyed in Hurricane Floyd.
In eight days, 100 volunteers erected a new church St. Paul AME Zion Church for which worshipers had prayed for nearly a decade.
The damage and deaths wreaked by these storms in the past 60 years has become legendary in North Carolina's history.
North Carolina's governor says residents should prepare for possible tropical storms and hurricanes as the state marks the 10th anniversary of its costliest storm.
The National Weather Service unveiled a commemorative sign Wednesday at City Lake in Rocky Mount, where the water level crested at nearly 18 feet above flood stage on Sept. 17, 1999.
Vacant lots and empty buildings serve in some communities as a reminders of what was lost when Hurricane Floyd covered eastern North Carolina in unprecedented floodwaters in September 1999.
Hurricane Floyd hit North Carolina's coast Sept. 16, 1999, causing unexpected and unprecedented damage and leaving an impact on people and places that will last for decades.