KNOXVILLE — As wind and rain from Tropical Storm Florence continues to pound the coast of North Carolina, the Snow family waits in Knoxville as they watch the storm batter their hometown.
"You feel helpless. You really feel helpless that you can’t help the people that stayed behind," said Eddie Snow. "When that surge moves in, the river doesn't have a way to move out. It pushes everything up. There’s a lot of people that are really suffering right now."
Eddie and Kathy Snow evacuated to Knoxville with their kids and dogs. With Wilmington in the crosshair of the hurricane, they knew they had to leave.
"When we left, there was a big rainbow in Wilmington. It was so crazy to know that in two days, this place is going to be nothing like that," said Kathy. "It’s just the not knowing and not knowing how much worse it’s going to get because there is a lot of storm still left."
Pictures from neighbors who stayed behind show the power of the storm. Downed trees and flooded roads fill their neighborhood. What scares them now is how bad it will be when they get home.
"Our backyard floods pretty well. It’s prone to flooding whenever there is heavy rain," said Eddie. "We’re very concerned about it."
The Snow’s took advantage of the free admission to Zoo Knoxville here today for hurricane evacuees. They say they’re thankful East Tennessee has been so welcoming.
Now all they can do is wait, helpless to mother natures wrath.