Rivers swell as death roll rises from Hurricane Florence in US

CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA : The Carolinas were drenched and largely paralysed on Sunday as a weakened Tropical Depression Florence slowly ravaged the South, swelling the region’s rivers and leaving authorities bracing for another day of widespread — and, they feared, potentially catastrophic — rainfall and flooding.

Even as the storm both lost some of its power and sped up, leaving less time for its steady rains to saturate the places in its path, the death toll increased to at least 14, and rivers were rising fast. Forecasters warned that flooding, already frighteningly common this weekend, was virtually certain to worsen within hours.

Scores of shelters were open on Sunday, filled with people who fled ahead of the storm and some of the hundreds more evacuated from their homes by rescue workers in boats and helicopters. And having already unleashed days of sustained torment along the coastline and in communities in the east for days, the storm system moved west Sunday, targeting Charlotte, North Carolina, and smaller communities in both Carolinas. The system has been downgraded to a tropical depression, meaning it has maximum sustained winds of 38 mph.

The center of the depression is over central South Carolina and moving west. Charlotte, North Carolina’s largest city, is expected to see significant rainfall, and a flash-flood watch is in effect through Monday. Rainfall in North Carolina has already broken a state record.