Lisa Whitefield, a resident of Rocky Mount, recalls her experiences during Hurricane Floyd. Whitefield stayed at her sister's apartment the night of the storm, not knowing there was a creek nearby. When they woke up the next morning, the adjacent apartment complex was completely underwater. She tried to drive to her mom's house, but every way they went was blocked by water as the Tar and Nashville Rivers rose. She describes her fear of drowning as the most helpless feeling she's ever had. She stayed in her sister's house for four days. All of the family members got sick from the water they drank, and the young kids ended up having to get antibiotics to recover. Whitefield remembers the horrible smell of the water, and how she and her family had to fight with mosquitoes and other insects to eat. She also recalls the emotional toll the experience took on her and those close to her. Her mother-in-law, who was already sick in the hospital, died the night of the flood. Her best friend lost everything at her home in Princeville. Whitefield's car flooded, the location of the job she was about to start flooded, and she missed a month of school at Edgecombe Community. She says that she was not as prepared for the storm as she could have been, but she never would have been prepared for it emotionally, as she stayed so strong for everyone else that she forgot to take care of her own emotions.