Candy Madrid, Rocky Mount Children's Museum Director, recalls the effects Hurricane Floyd had on the museum. The day before the storm hit, she made sure that the museum's eighteen live animals had enough food and water in case she couldn't get to them for a day. She remembers having no real concern, as the city had been through hurricanes and floods before. Early the next morning, she got a call saying the situation near the museum was bad. Madrid expresses the frustration she felt as she tried to drive to the museum at 5 A.M. and all of the roads were flooded. In the days after the flood, when she still could not reach the children's museum, she invited a few people into her house and bought them some necessities. When she was finally able to get to the museum days later, she found that the flood had destroyed everything. Only three animals survived the flood: an alligator, a Burmese python, and a Columbian red tail boa constrictor. She describes cleaning the areas of the surviving animals, which was a very emotional experience for her. She remembers some of the exhibits lost, including the planetarium, the news zone, a hands-on science center, and a virtual reality exhibit. Madrid fondly remembers receiving supportive emails from museums all over the world in the aftermath of the flood, and describes some of the exhibits other museums in North Carolina donated to the children's museum.