LUMBERTON, N.C.—Severe flooding in swampy, southeastern North Carolina took a particularly hard toll on the Lumbee, a Native American tribe.

Emergency crews rescued people from flooded homes in rural Robeson County on Thursday. Water rose on many of the county’s arterial roads, making it difficult for emergency workers to travel from one part of the sprawling rural county to another.

“It’s a mess,” said Norman Brewington, a 45-year-old Lumbee. Water rose to nearly 3 feet above ground level inside his Lumberton mobile home, soaking everything he owned, even his Bible.

Hurricane Matthew has left a wide path of destruction, leaving at least 38 dead in the U.S. and hundreds more in Haiti. Power remained out for homes and business across North Carolina Friday, though repairs brought the number of outages down to about 18,700 by noon. Thousands of people were in shelters in the eastern part of the state.

The storm was felt by many of the estimated 61,000 Lumbee who live in North Carolina, most of whom are in Robeson County, the traditional Lumbee homeland. Many have very little income and assets.