The Artist formerly known as Prince has donated $37,000 (£22,500) to a storm-ravaged town in North Carolina that bears his old name.

The pop superstar decided to give the money to the town of Princeville after reading articles about the extensive flood damage it suffered in the wake of Hurricane Floyd.

The storm - one of the most powerful in US history - spread torrential rains and howling winds from Florida to North Carolina in September and more than 2.5 million people had to be evacuated from their homes.

In the town of Princeville, which has a population of 21,000, a town spokesman said The Artist's money would go towards paying for building materials.

"Although $37,000 will not go very far when you talk about building supplies, we're very grateful to him for thinking about us," said Sam Knight.

He added: "Even though you can't tell it from his music, he's a very religious man who wanted no publicity about his gift to the town.

After reading about Princeville's plight, the musician sent a representative from his charitable organisation in Ohio to the town to assess its needs.

After three days looking things over, the representative returned to Ohio and shortly afterwards the singer approved the donation.

Hurricane Floyd wreaked havoc in Princeville and the Edgecombe County town is only just beginning to recover.

Across north eastern Carolina, more than 80,000 people have registered with the Federal Emergency Management Agency for loans and grants to repair damage.

Of those, 61,354 residents have reported home damage. More than 17,000 homes were said to uninhabitable and 7,637 of those were beyond repair.