With the remnants of Hurricane Florence finally moving away from the drenched and battered Carolinas, lawyers and law firms in the hardest hit areas are trying to figure out how to forge ahead.

“It’s not like you can relax and focus on work when you’re thinking about everyone who stayed behind,” said Hal Kitchin, a now-stranded evacuee and business litigator at McGuireWoods‘ law office in Wilmington, North Carolina. Widespread flooding has made roads impassable and marooned his city of more than 117,000.