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Oral History Interview with Bert Pickett, December 18, 1999. Interview K-0285. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007).
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  • Abstract
    In this interview, Pentecostal pastor Bert Pickett provides a compelling description of the abject despair that accompanied Hurricane Floyd's devastation. Pickett lost nearly all his possessions. The interview documents Pickett's articulation of his coping process—he avers his dignity and pride but confesses his absolute grief as well. He worries that he will lose the respect of his son and talks at length about the presence of evil in his community, whether manifested in people who defraud aid organizations or the destructive power of the flooding. This is a rich interview for someone interested in learning about the psychological impact of environmental disasters.
    Excerpts
  • Struggling to maintain strength despite a devastating loss
  • Deep despair following Hurricane Floyd
  • Escaping rising water in a boat
  • Resenting the flood's invasion of his bedroom
  • Flooding both damaged commnuity ties and strengthened them
  • Inadequate compensation from insurance companies
  • Fighting to get compensation for flood losses
  • Traveling to Raleigh to dramatize flood survivors' lack of compensation
  • "The good outweighs the bad" in flood relief despite greed and disorganization
  • Satan sent the flood, but God let it happen
  • The flood revealed the evil in the world
  • The flood damages Pickett's vision of himself as a father
  • Frustration with the difficulty of getting aid
  • Learn More
  • Finding aid to the Southern Oral History Program Collection
  • Database of all Southern Oral History Program Collection interviews
  • Resources for Educators
  • Hurricane Floyd Learning Object
  • Subjects
  • Duplin County (N.C.)
  • Hurricane Floyd, 1999
  • Floods--North Carolina
  • White Stocking (N.C.)
  • Hurricanes--North Carolina
  • Disaster relief--North Carolina
  • United States. Federal Emergency Management Agency
  • The Southern Oral History Program transcripts presented here on Documenting the American South undergo an editorial process to remove transcription errors. Texts may differ from the original transcripts held by the Southern Historical Collection.

    Funding from the Institute for Museum and Library Services supported the electronic publication of this title.