Matthew's death toll creeps higher

NBC News – (NBC News) It's been a week since Hurricane Matthew hit the Carolinas, but the effects are still being felt.

Twenty-four people have died from the storm in North Carolina alone, out of a total of 42 in the United States.

Most of them were killed by flooding. Some of the rivers swollen by 17-inches of hurricane matthew's rainfall are just cresting, a full week after the storm hit.

"We've had a hard time explaining, with the sky so beautiful and blue, that it's really a rolling disaster happening, not just in Greenville but everywhere in eastern North Carolina," says Greenville Mayor Allen Thomas.

Other downriver towns might not see the worst of it until the weekend, meaning the flood water won't recede until next week, delaying damage assessments, cleanup and rebuilding.

40,000 are still without power in North Carolina alone, and the National Guard has deployed in high-water trucks to prevent looting.