Hurricane Florence swirled over the Carolinas on Saturday, dumping non-stop rain over areas already flooded by seawater, swelling rivers, and creeks across both states.
Some towns have already been soaked by more than 2 feet of nonstop rains, and forecasters have warned that totals could reach 3½ feet, unleashing floods far inland through early next week. At least four people have died, a toll authorities fear will most likely rise as the storm crawls westward across South Carolina.
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper called Florence an “uninvited brute” that could wipe out entire communities as it makes its way treacherously across land. “The fact is this storm is deadly and we know we are days away from an ending,” Cooper said.
With winds swirling up to 350 miles wide, Florence continued drenching the Carolinas on Saturday morning. Rescue crews used boats to carry upwards of 360 people away from rising water in the river town of New Bern, North Carolina, while many of their neighbors waited for help. Dozens more were pulled from a collapsed motel.
According to a tweet from Wilmington police, a mother and her baby were killed when a tree fell on a house.Lenoir County authorities said that a 77-year-old man was knocked down by the wind and died after going out to check on his dogs. The governor’s office said a man was electrocuted, because he was trying to connect extension cords in the rain.
Scared after seeing waves crashing on the River just outside his house in New Bern, restaurant owner and hurricane veteran Tom Ballance said he wished he had evacuated.
“I feel like the dumbest human being who ever walked the face of the earth,” he said.
