Thousands Evacuated as Post-Matthew Flooding Swamps NC

Nine-thousand people are being evacuated along the Tar River in Greenville, North Carolina, Wednesday as the flood threat from Hurricane Matthew unfolds.

Nearly 25 deaths have occurred in the United States after the storm, with 18 being in North Carolina.

How You Can Help:
Give to Operation Blessing

Operation Blessing is accepting volunteers Monday through Saturday at Covenant Love Church in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Orientation begins at 8:30 a.m. and teams will be sent out from there. Operation Blessing will provide everything workers need - assignments, tools, and lunch. However, volunteers are required to provide their own transportation to and from the work sites. No reservations are needed for daily volunteers.

The state continues to be in danger from rain-fed waters that are still on the rise in some areas. Sections of the Neuse River near Goldsboro and the Tar River at Tarboro are expected to crest today.

Gov. Pat McCrory is urging people to evacuate while teams are currently working on moving people out of danger. Utility crews are also working to restore power to around 200,000 customers.

CBN's Operation Blessing is one of the teams helping people in Fayetteville, North Carolina.

The team is currently sending volunteers to neighborhoods to help sort their belongings, gut their homes, and go door to door checking on people. The aid organization is also serving hot meals (lunch and dinner) out of their mobile kitchen.

Kim Butsch is one of the residents Operation Blessing is helping. Butsch had to work the night of the storm and left her son at home alone, not realizing how bad the flooding would get.

She could only pray for comfort after her son lost the rest of his battery life on his phone. She was able to finally reach him the next day, but only by boat due to the waters having risen so high.

"To have people from these local churches, for Operation Blessing to be here, you say the word blessing, but that doesn't really touch what it is," Butsch said.

Hurricane Matthew has damaged or destroyed more than 1 million buildings, forced businesses from Florida to North Carolina to close, and put thousands temporarily out of work.

Goldman Sachs estimates the storm probably caused $10 billion in damage overall.