A North Carolina man whose home was battered by Hurricane Florence just got lucky
A year after Hurricane Florence battered his home, a North Carolina man finally caught a break.
David Burnette plans to rebuild after he won a $50,000 prize, the N.C. Education Lottery said Friday in a news release.
Burnette tried his luck when he went to Handy Mart in the coastal town of Morehead City, according to the release.
And when he found out his Mega Millions ticket was a winner, “he couldn’t believe it,” officials say.
“I called my wife in to check the numbers,” Burnette said in the news release. “It felt great to win.”
His lottery ticket matched enough Mega Millions numbers to win $10,000, which multiplied to reach $50,000, according to the release.
Burnette, a retiree who lives in Newport, hopes to put the money toward home repairs, the lottery says.
His house was damaged when Hurricane Florence barreled down on North Carolina in September 2018.
The hurricane brought a “record breaking storm surge” and up to 30 inches of rain to some areas, according to the National Weather Service.
“Mr. Burnette is just one example of the different life-changing prizes someone can win playing Mega Millions,” Mark Michalko, executive director of the N.C. Education Lottery, said in the news release.
A drawing for the top Mega Millions jackpot of $340 million is scheduled for Friday night, officials say.
This story was originally published December 13, 2019 at 3:59 PM.
