WILMINGTON, United States, Sept 15, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Tropical storm
Florence caused “catastrophic” flooding in the Carolinas Saturday even as it
began to weaken, after resulting in multiple deaths, including a woman and
her baby killed when a tree fell on their house.
Four deaths were confirmed by officials as American media reported
another, and the storm has wreaked havoc in the Carolinas, lashing the US
states with torrential rain and causing rivers to burst their banks.
“Florence slowly weakening just inland over eastern South Carolina but
causing catastrophic flooding over North and South Carolina,” the National
Hurricane Center (NHC) said early Saturday morning, after downgrading it from
a hurricane to a tropical storm the previous day.
North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper had said that “several more days of
rain” were expected, describing the amount of rainfall from the hurricane as
a “1,000-year event.”
“Into next week our rivers are going to continue to rise and there will
be more significant flooding,” Cooper said.
There had been three confirmed deaths from the storm and several others
were being investigated to determine if they were storm-related, he said.
The mother and her baby were killed in New Hanover County when a tree
fell on their house, the governor said, while confirming another death in
Lenoir County.
Local authorities reported a death in Pender County when downed trees
prevented emergency units from reaching a woman with a medical condition.
Local media said she had suffered a heart attack.
US media later said a second man in Lenoir County died after heavy winds
knocked him down as he tried to check on his dogs.
“This storm is going to continue its violent grind across our state for
days,” Cooper said.
More than 760,000 customers in North Carolina were without power and
21,000 people were being housed in 157 shelters across the state.
The White House said President Donald Trump was to visit hurricane-hit
areas next week “once it is determined his travel will not disrupt any rescue
or recovery efforts.”
“Great job FEMA, First Responders and Law Enforcement – not easy, very
dangerous, tremendous talent. America is proud of you,” Trump tweeted on
Friday, referring to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which responds
to disasters in the United States.
– ‘WE ARE COMING TO GET YOU’ –
As of 5:00 am (0900 GMT), maximum sustained winds had weakened to near 50
miles (80 kilometers) per hour, but the NHC warned residents of dangerous
storm surges and “catastrophic flash flooding.”
“Flash flooding will be extreme and flood waters will come up quickly and
seemingly out of nowhere,” the governor said earlier.
“We’re deeply concerned for whole communities which could be wiped away.”
Some of the worst flooding was in New Bern, a town of 30,000 in North
Carolina at the confluence of the Trent and Neuse rivers, where hundreds of
people needed to be rescued after becoming trapped in their homes by a storm
surge of up to 10 feet (three meters).
“WE ARE COMING TO GET YOU. You may need to move up to the second story,
or to your attic, but WE ARE COMING TO GET YOU,” the authorities in New Bern
said on Twitter.
There have been “several hundred” rescue operations, Governor Cooper
said.
Besides federal and state emergency crews, rescuers were being helped by
volunteers from the “Cajun Navy” who also turned up in Houston during
Hurricane Harvey to carry out water rescues.
Hurricane Florence made landfall as a Category 1 storm in Wrightsville
Beach, North Carolina, after stalking the Carolina coast for days.
The NHC said Florence had the potential to dump historic amounts of rain
on North and South Carolina, as much as 40 inches (one meter) in some places.
Tornadoes are also a threat, with the NHC saying that “a few tornadoes
are possible in southeastern North Carolina and northeastern South Carolina.”
– Downed trees and power lines –
In Wilmington, near where the eye of the storm touched down, trees and
power lines were felled and many windows were broken. The streets were mostly
deserted and some were blocked by fallen trees.
The city awoke Friday to the sound of exploding electrical transformers
with strong gusts of wind throwing street signs and other debris as well as
water in all directions.
Mason Tarr said he spent the night at a friend’s house but didn’t sleep
well.
“Our house is on high ground so we’re not worried about the flooding,” he
said. “But there are a lot of big trees around so we preferred to spend the
night at a friend’s to be sure.
“We’re out of power so we spent the first few hours of the day playing
board games with candles.”
About 1.7 million people in North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia
are under voluntary or mandatory evacuation orders, and millions of others
live in areas likely to be affected by the storm.