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On The Ground In Wilmington After Florence

The North Carolina National Guard was deployed to help in the fight against Florence.
NC National Guard

North Carolina is still reeling from Hurricane Florence. The death toll from the storm rose to at least 37 people in three different states Tuesday, with 27 fatalities in North Carolina. There are roughly 10,000 people still in shelters. Governor Roy Cooper urged those who evacuated to stay put. 

The governor also said that 16 rivers in the state are at major flood stage and over 1,100 roads are closed. The North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services says 3.4 million chickens and 5,500 hogs died in the flooding from Florence. The storm overwhelmed farms where the animals were being raised for market.

Animal and human waste is now mixing in with the floodwaters. The AP is reporting that over five million gallons of partially treated sewage has spilled into the Cape Fear River after power went out at a treatment plant.

Wilmington is still mostly cut off by floodwaters, although officials have been able to clear a couple routes into the city. Many residents have been forced to wait in long lines for water and food. Host Frank Stasio gets an update on what conditions are like in Wilmington from Rachel Lewis Hilburn, news director for WHQR in Wilmington.

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Amanda Magnus is the executive producer of Embodied, a weekly radio show and podcast about sex, relationships and health. She has also worked on other WUNC shows including Tested and CREEP.
Longtime NPR correspondent Frank Stasio was named permanent host of The State of Things in June 2006. A native of Buffalo, Frank has been in radio since the age of 19. He began his public radio career at WOI in Ames, Iowa, where he was a magazine show anchor and the station's News Director.