‘The worst is yet to come,’ officials warn as Florence batters America

HURRICANE Florence has drenched the US east coast with yet more rain as officials warned residents that “the worst is yet to come” from a storm that has killed at least 14 people.

Florence, which crashed into the state as a hurricane on Friday, had weakened to a tropical depression by yesterday morning but was forecast to drop another 13cm to 25cm of rain in North Carolina.

The most rain so far from Florence was 86cm in Swansboro, North Carolina, a new record for a hurricane in the state. The previous record was 61cm, set by Hurricane Floyd, which killed 56 people in 1999, said Bryce Link, a meteorologist with forecasting service DTN Marine Weather.

In North Carolina, more than 900 people were rescued from rising flood waters and 15,000 remained in shelters, North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper said yesterday.

At least 10 people have died so far in the storm in North Carolina, including a mother and child killed by a falling tree, state officials said. Four people died in South Carolina, including a woman whose car hit a fallen tree.

In Fayetteville, a North Carolina city of about 210,000 people 145km inland, authorities warned thousands of residents near the Cape Fear River and Little River to get out of their homes by yesterday afternoon because of the flood risk.

“If you are refusing to leave during this mandatory evacuation, you need to do things like notify your legal next of kin because the loss of life is very, very possible,” Mayor Mitch Colvin said, before adding: “The worst is yet to come.”

In Leland, a low-lying city north of Wilmington, homes and local businesses were engulfed by water yesterday.

Petrol stations were abandoned, with many pumps keeled over, and trees cluttered many roads, making them impassable. The whir of generators could be heard throughout the city, a sound not expected to dim soon as crews work to restore power.

About 756,000 homes and businesses were without power yesterday in North and South Carolina and surrounding states, down from a peak of nearly one million.

Five people were arrested for breaking into a Dollar General Store, said Wilmington police, who have imposed a nighttime curfew.

‘If you are refusing to leave, you need to notify your legal next of kin because the loss of life is very, very possible’