Florence may have been downgraded from a hurricane to a tropical storm on Friday afternoon, but the powerful wind and rain have already resulted in the deaths of five people — including a mother and infant — in North and South Carolina.
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper says five deaths have been confirmed from Florence and others are being investigated. “Loss of life is heartbreaking, and we’ll continue to pray for the victims and their family” https://t.co/g5uRoPg61x pic.twitter.com/bJZZ8sFuun
— CBS News (@CBSNews) September 15, 2018
The tropical storm is expected to continue throughout the weekend. According to CBS News, hundreds have been rescued from New Bern and Jacksonville, North Carolina alone. Nearly 900,000 in the state are without power, and Duke Energy anticipates that number climbing to 3 million.
So far, more than 30 inches of rain have fallen in North Carolina. One meteorologist predicted that Florence “could dump a staggering 18 trillion gallons of rain over a week on North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky and Maryland,” CBS News reported.
Video: Cajun Navy rescuing residents from rapidly rising tidal surge in New Bern, NC from #HurricaneFlorence @breakingweather @accuweather pic.twitter.com/DBprKV8O9b
— Reed Timmer (@ReedTimmerAccu) September 14, 2018
North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper is urging residents that evacuated to not go home yet. “Stay in place. People are still being rescued in coastal North Carolina. We’ve got a lot of debris, a lot of covered roads, covered with water. (It’s) a dangerous situation here,” Cooper told ABC News.
The governor said his main concern is the record-breaking storm’s water and flooding. “With every inch of rain, our rivers rise and we’ll see significant flooding on into next week — could be of historic proportions. … Our No. 1 concern right now is the safety of our people here,” Cooper said. “We’re seeing potential for flooding in counties that haven’t seen flooding in recent years and we’re looking at 500- to 1000-year rain and flood events here in North Carolina. Our preparation is now having to turn to determination and we’re going to work hard to recover and recover quickly. North Carolinians are resilient and we’re going to pull together and get this thing done.”
The state could potentially face anywhere from $10 billion to $60 billion in economic damages. President Trump issued a disaster declaration on Saturday, making federal money available to people in various North Carolina counties.