美国国家公共电台 NPR--Rescue efforts in Florida are still being hampered by floodwaters from Ian

Rescue efforts in Florida are still being hampered¹ by floodwaters from Ian

Transcript²

The city of Arcadia, Fla., is 50 miles inland from the Gulf³ Coast, but it's still grappling with the water Hurricane Ian dumped last week. The flooded Peace River has cut off thousands of homes.

A MARTINEZ, HOST:

Days after Hurricane Ian, the water that had poured on Florida is still hampering⁴ rescue efforts. Near the town of Arcadia, 50 miles inland from the coast, the flooded Peace River has cut off thousands of homes. NPR's Quil Lawrence went to survey the damage and sent this report.

QUIL LAWRENCE, BYLINE⁵: Victoria Hatcher Washington lives with her husband and her 75-year-old mother in the town of Arcadia. Their house is under a mess of downed trees. The storm surge flooded it completely.

VICTORIA HATCHER WASHINGTON: Oh, sleeping in our car. And we don't have heat. We got the windows up. And we just don't have anything right now.

LAWRENCE: Her car is a miracle. It's somehow still running, even though you can see the mud on the roof and the windshield from where the water washed over it. But somewhere in the chaos⁶, she lost her money and credit cards.

WASHINGTON: He know I don't have any money right now, so he came and bought me gas. And then my brother-in-law bought me a $5 gallon bucket. And then my son had, like, 2 or 3 gallons in his car. So that - I'm riding on that.

LAWRENCE: She's come downtown to get food and donations from a local charity. Washington says her son has a boat, and he's out rescuing people from the flood zone. A few miles away, we find a small navy of volunteers with boats docked where the highway has been swallowed by the river. In the distance, you can see land rising out of the water.

J C DERISO: So it's created an island in the middle that can't go west for supplies, and they can't come east for supplies.

LAWRENCE: J.C. Deriso is a county commissioner⁷.

DERISO: After going through Charley, our community was pretty well-prepared for the storm and high winds, but the flood was pretty unexpected. They're saying it's really close to a 500-year flood.

LAWRENCE: And the flood hit a full day after the hurricane, when people thought they'd made it through.

DERISO: So that storm came in here, and it kind of parked and dumped over 20 inches of rain on us. Then it moved north and dumped 20 inches of rain north of us. And so all that moved down the next day. And there was actually - people we were saving the day after the storm, there were some people wanting to stay because they thought they were good, and the next day, they realized they needed to get out 'cause it was over their roofs.

LAWRENCE: But he says volunteers have been pouring in with airboats, those shallow skiffs with massive fans that blow them through swamps or flooded highways. Deriso has an airboat.

DERISO: Yeah, I can take you guys if you want to go.

UNIDENTIFIED AUDIENCE MEMBER: That'd be amazing.

DERISO: No problem, yeah.

LAWRENCE: He takes off his boots. He says it's his last dry pair. And he wades⁸ barefoot out to his boat and turns it on.

(SOUNDBITE OF BOAT ENGINE RUNNING)

LAWRENCE: We're in the middle of what used to be a commuter⁹ route into Sarasota, and it's now part of the river. The flood has made several distinct islands, and volunteers in airboats have been ferrying them back and forth¹⁰, taking out the sick and injured and bringing supplies to people.

He takes us down State Route 72, where we can see the National Guard unloading donated food on what has become an island there. Then we head up Route 70 and dock where there's a hot food tent and a line of stranded¹¹ residents.

ANA CRUZ: (Speaking Spanish).

LAWRENCE: Ana Cruz says she's got no power, no water, no gasoline. Trees fell on top of her house, and her family is trapped out here.

CRUZ: (Speaking Spanish).

LAWRENCE: "We didn't think the rain would last so long," she says, "10 hours." Also in the food line is Ana Aguilar.

ANA AGUILAR: (Speaking Spanish).

LAWRENCE: She says she's fine compared to many others. Her house is sound. She's got a generator¹². But she's just stuck here until the river goes down, which is happening very slowly. J.C. Deriso ferries us back to the south side of the river, zipping by a sunken trailer park full of floating RVs and a Sunoco station with the river flowing right through it. He wants to get back because Governor Ron DeSantis is about to visit Arcadia. President Biden is also expected later this week. Deriso says he'd like to see politicians working together, like the volunteers here in this town.

DERISO: That would be impressive to me, you know? I really like to see politicians from both sides of the aisle¹³ work together, and I think it could happen here.

LAWRENCE: That's what's best for the people, he says, only it doesn't happen that often.

Quil Lawrence, NPR News, Arcadia, Fla.

1 hampered   

妨碍，束缚，限制( hamper的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The search was hampered by appalling weather conditions. 恶劣的天气妨碍了搜寻工作。
• So thought every harassed, hampered, respectable boy in St. Petersburg. 圣彼德堡镇的那些受折磨、受拘束的体面孩子们个个都是这么想的。

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

4 hampering   

妨碍，束缚，限制( hamper的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• So fraud on cows and development aid is seriously hampering growth. 因此在牛问题上和发展补助上的诈骗严重阻碍了发展。
• Short-termism, carbon-trading, disputing the science-are hampering the implementation of direct economically-led objectives. 短效主义，出售二氧化碳，进行科学辩论，这些都不利于实现以经济为主导的直接目标。

5 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

6 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。

7 commissioner   

n.（政府厅、局、处等部门）专员，长官，委员

参考例句：

• The commissioner has issued a warrant for her arrest.专员发出了对她的逮捕令。
• He was tapped for police commissioner.他被任命为警务处长。

8 wades   

（从水、泥等）蹚，走过，跋( wade的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• A lumi wields a golden morningstar with trained ease as it wades into melee. 光民熟练地挥舞钉头锤加入战团。

9 commuter   

n.(尤指市郊之间)乘公交车辆上下班者

参考例句：

• Police cordoned off the road and diverted commuter traffic. 警察封锁了道路并分流交通。
• She accidentally stepped on his foot on a crowded commuter train. 她在拥挤的通勤列车上不小心踩到了他的脚。

10 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

11 stranded   

a.搁浅的，进退两难的

参考例句：

• He was stranded in a strange city without money. 他流落在一个陌生的城市里， 身无分文，一筹莫展。
• I was stranded in the strange town without money or friends. 我困在那陌生的城市，既没有钱，又没有朋友。

12 generator   

n.发电机，发生器

参考例句：

• All the while the giant generator poured out its power.巨大的发电机一刻不停地发出电力。
• This is an alternating current generator.这是一台交流发电机。

13 aisle   

n.（教堂、教室、戏院等里的）过道，通道

参考例句：

• The aisle was crammed with people.过道上挤满了人。
• The girl ushered me along the aisle to my seat.引座小姐带领我沿着通道到我的座位上去。