For the people of North Carolina, getting knocked down is just another opportunity to get up and stand tall. Hurricane Matthew has damaged thousands of homes and business, created mass flooding and forced many of our families to evacuate their cities and towns.
When natural disasters like Matthew upend our lives, much of the media focuses on first responders and emergency personnel who put themselves on the line to rescue our friends and neighbors and get families to safety. Their bravery has been thoroughly tested by this storm and the swelling rivers have produced record flooding and evacuations.
Coordinated efforts and hard work are putting our communities back together
In the aftermath of Matthew’s we continue to suffer from the rising waters of local rivers and streams. For many, we are still living in the eye of the storm.
The hurricane’s high winds have also inflicted heavy damage to our cities and towns and this devastation has left hundreds of thousands of our people without power. Electrical workers, among many others responders, have been answering the call to swiftly begin the restoration process.
Duke Energy, for example, has put more than 7,000 electrical workers in the field and plans to double that workforce as the flooding recedes and they’re able to assist more neighborhoods and communities.
These workers have faced, and will continue to endure, hazardous conditions across North Carolina. They are tasked with restoring literally miles of downed power lines as well as buttressing and replacing more than 800 broken utility poles. They’ll work 16-hour shifts in sloppy conditions in a Herculean effort to put communities back on line.
Grocery stores will reopen, refrigerators will work again, homes will be pumped out and we will turn the lights on at night due to the hard work of these dedicated men and women. So far, they have restored power to more than 800,000 people and plan continue their tireless efforts until every single one of us has electricity again.
We thank you
Our first responders deserve every bit of credit for their heroism and we are indebted to their outstanding bravery. At the Parker & Frey Law Firm, we also want to acknowledge the extraordinary efforts of the dedicated workers who are out their helping to put our communities back together and get us back on our feet. Thank you.