Millions of animals left on farms in North Carolina during the record-breaking rainfall have drowned in the flooding. As of Tuesday (Sept. 18), the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, which has been counting livestock deaths in the field, says 3.4 million chickens and turkeys have died so far, along with 5,500 pigs.

Meanwhile, 13 hog manure lagoons are overflowing from rainfall, another 55 are close to overtopping their walls and, and an additional four lagoons have suffered structural damage. Hog manure running into flood waters poses a substantial public health risk, according to experts.

“You basically have a toxic soup for people who live in close proximity to those lagoons,” Sacoby Wilson, a professor of public health at the University of Maryland, told Vice News. “All of these contaminants that are in the hog lagoons, like salmonella, giardia, and E. coli, can get into the waterways and infect people trying to get out.”

The US Centers for Disease Control warned parents to prevent their children from making contact with the floodwaters, which may carry infectious diseases and raw sewage.

AndyH wrote: Thu Sep 20, 2018 10:49 pm I hear you, YT. Thing is, there's more profit to just dig pits. They don't have to do anything on the sunny days, and if the shi...if things get bad, they can get state or federal money and then take a tax deduction for the losses and expenses. it's crazy.

Gray material that the company characterized as lightweight coal combustion byproducts could be seen Friday floating on the top of the lake. The ash left over when coal is burned to generate electricity coal ash contains an array of components, including mercury, lead, arsenic and other toxic heavy metals. The inundated basin contains at the plant 400,000 cubic yards of ash.

TrueTexan wrote: Fri Sep 21, 2018 9:45 pm Just take the dead pigs and the waste and dump it where the good honest Citizens of North Carolina are the least likely to go, Agent Orange’s golf course in Mooresville N.C.

Parts of Wilmington remain without power, in part because Duke Energy's Sutton Plant, a 625-megawatt natural gas facility, remains inundated by rising Cape Fear River waters. The plant provides enough energy to power half a million homes.