Losing Speed, Tropical Storm Florence Will Continue Slowly Through The Carolinas

A mother and baby were killed when a tree fell on their home in Wilmington.

A 78-year-old man in Kinston, North Carolina, was electrocuted when he tried to connect two extension cords outside in the rain, according to Lenoir County Emergency Services Director Roger Dail.

Local authorities reported a death in Pender County when downed trees prevented emergency units from reaching a woman with a medical condition.

After reaching a terrifying Category 4 peak of 140 mph (225 kph) earlier in the week, Florence made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane at 7:15 a.m.at Wrightsville Beach, a few miles (kilometers) east of Wilmington and not far from the SC line.

Here come twins! A Military couple evacuating from Hurricane Florence had a lifechanging moment. Cpl. “We are stuck in the attic”.

Coast Guard helicopters were taking off across the street to rescue stranded people from rooftops and swamped cars. Rescue workers were able only to save her father.

Dawn Baldwin Gibson, 47, a minister and private school founder who lives on a farm closer to the coast in nearby Pamlico County and runs a Facebook page about weather in eastern North Carolina, had evacuated to New Bern to stay with family, thinking it would be a safer spot. By late afternoon, Beaufort County Manager Brian Alligood hoped the worst was over. “We can pump 42,000 gallons (159,000 litres) a minute once we have water receded enough”.

The deadly Tropical Storm Florence is so ferocious, it’s uprooting everything, even tightly-bolted historic statues.

But the size of the storm meant the path didn’t really matter.

So far: almost 32.5 inches (82.5 centimeters) of rain was reported in Oriental, North Carolina.

With tropical storm-force winds swirling 350 miles wide, Florence continued deluging the Carolinas on Saturday morning after pushing surging seas far ashore. Dozens more were rescued from a collapsed motel. “And you don’t need power to sling booze”, said owner Eli Ellsworth.

Power outages increased throughout Friday. In neighboring SC, 155,000 customers are without power, officials said.

It is now a tropical storm with top sustained winds of 90 miles per hour (150 kph), but a gust of 112 miles per hour (180 kph) was reported just offshore.

The Triangle is under a flash flood warning until 8 p.m. Sunday.

North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper told reporters that five deaths have been officially confirmed in his state, with several more under investigation.

“The rainfall is epic and will continue to be”, Cooper said.

“We have completed all of our water rescues & want to sincerely thank all of the volunteers who helped us save lives”. Floodwaters submerged U.S. Highway 264, cutting off a major route to other flood-prone areas along the river and the adjacent Pamlico Sound. “More than likely it’s maybe a mindset of ‘we’ve been through this before, ‘” he said.

Emergency crews were stretched thin.

“That’s why I got this thing, to use in times like this”, he told CNN’s Ed Lavandera. Areas from Wilmington through Fayetteville to Charlotte will experience 500-year to 1,000-year flood events, he said.

Police said 150 to 200 residents have been rescued earlier on Friday and 150 or more were still awaiting rescue.

Others who chose to stay at home perhaps regretted their decision.

Downtown New Bern, on the Neuse River also is flooded. Eventually, a volunteer rescue team from IN arrived with a boat and rescued them.

New Bern, which has a population of about 30,000, was once the capital of the state’s colonial government.