Florence drenches Carolinas before landfall this morning
WILMINGTON: Rain, wind and rising floodwaters from Hurricane Florence swamped the Carolinas last night as the massive storm crawled towards the coast, threatening millions of people with record rainfall and punishing surf.
It was set to inundate almost all of North Carolina in several feet of water, State Governor Roy Cooper said.
Florence was expected to make landfall near Cape Fear, North Carolina, early this morning (NZ time) and forecasters said it could batter the US East Coast with hurricaneforce winds for nearly a full day.
With the brunt of the storm yet to come, a gauge on the Neuse River in New Bern, a city near the coast, was already recording 3m of inundation, the National Hurricane Centre (NHC) said. The downtown area of the city was under water and about 150 people were waiting to be rescued, city authorities said.
At least 188,000 people were without power in North Carolina and South Carolina last night. Utility companies said millions were expected to lose power and restoration could take weeks.
About 10 million people could be affected by the storm, which was downgraded to a category 1 hurricane yesterday, and more than 1 million have been ordered to evacuate the coasts of the Carolinas and Virginia. At least 12,000 people had taken refuge in 126 emergency shelters, Cooper said, and more facilities were being opened.
The NHC said the threat of tornadoes was increasing as Florence neared shore.
South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster said the heavy rain could trigger landslides in the west of his state, and NHC director Ken Graham said the storm surges could push as far as 3km inland. Heavy rains were forecast to extend into the Appalachian Mountains, affecting parts of Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky and West Virginia.
Emergency declarations were in force in Georgia, South and North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia. — Reuters