So Gilchrist, too, remained gone, one of many people who abandoned this town of 400 residents — where Hurricane Matthew flooded nearly every home and closed half the businesses. Starting over: In small-town America, it is more of a question to mull than a certainty to grasp. But for small towns such as Nichols, with neither resources for nor expertise in disaster recovery, there are only difficult and uncertain questions. A home in Nichols sits in floodwaters after Hurricane Matthew on Oct. 10, 2016. “People will be hesitant to rebuild their homes twice in two years.”A pharmacy in Nichols remains boarded up nearly two years after it was flooded by rainfall from Hurricane Matthew.

Source: Washington Post September 15, 2018 23:33 UTC