Fears of historic flooding grow; city of 119,000 cut off
WILMINGTON, N.C. — Catastrophic flooding from Florence spread across the Carolinas on Sunday, with roads to Wilmington cut off by the deluge and muddy river water swamping entire neighborhoods miles inland.
“The risk to life is rising with the angry waters,” Gov. Roy Cooper declared as the storm’s death toll climbed to 17.
The storm continued to crawl west, dumping more than 30 inches of rain in spots since Friday. Tens of thousands were ordered evacuated from communities along the state’s steadily rising rivers — with the Cape Fear, Little River,
FLORENCE
Lumber, Waccamaw and Pee Dee rivers all projected to burst their banks.
In Wilmington, with roads leading in and out of the city underwater and streams still swelling, residents waited for hours outside stores and restaurants for basic necessities like water. Police guarded the door of one store, and only 10 people were allowed inside at a time.
Woody White, chairman of the board of commissioners of New Hanover County, said officials were planning for food and water to be flown into the coastal city of 119,000 people.
“Our roads are flooded,” he said. “There is no access to Wilmington.”
About 70 miles from the coast, residents near the Lumber River stepped from their homes into boats floating in their front yards; river forecasts showed the scene could be repeated in towns as far as 250 miles inland as waters rise for days.
Downgraded overnight to a tropical depression, Florence was still massive. Radar showed parts of the storm over six Southeastern states and flood worries were spreading into southern Virginia and West Virginia, but North and South Carolina were still in the bull’s-eye.
In North Carolina, fears of what could be the worst flooding in the state’s history led officials to order tens of thousands to evacuate, though it wasn’t clear how many had fled or even could. The head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Brock Long, said officials were focused on finding and rescuing people.
“We’ll get through this. It’ll be ugly, but we’ll get through it,” Long told NBC’S “Meet The Press.”
President Donald Trump said federal emergency workers, first responders and law enforcement officials were “working really hard.” As the storm “begins to finally recede, they will kick into an even higher gear. Very Professional!” he declared in a tweet.
The storm’s death toll climbed to at least 17 when a 3-month-old child was killed by a tree that fell across a mobile home in North Carolina. Earlier, officials said three people died in weather-related traffic accidents in South Carolina.
As rivers swelled, state regulators and environmental groups were monitoring the threat from gigantic hog and poultry farms in low-lying, flood-prone areas.
The industrial-scale farms contain vast pits of animal feces and urine that can pose a significant pollution threat if they are breached or inundated by floodwaters. In past hurricanes, flooding at dozens of farms also left hundreds of thousands of dead hogs, chickens and other decomposing livestock bobbing in floodwaters.
Stream gauges across the region showed water levels rising steadily, with forecasts calling for rivers to crest Sunday and Monday at or near record levels. The Defense Department said about 13,500 military personnel had been assigned to help in relief efforts.
Authorities ordered the immediate evacuation of up to 7,500 people living within a mile of a stretch of the Cape Fear River and the Little River, about 100 miles from the North Carolina coast. The evacuation zone included part of the city of Fayetteville, population 200,000. Rainfall totals were stunning. In Swansboro, North Carolina, nearly 34 inches had fallen by Sunday afternoon, and 20 other places in North Carolina had at least 20 inches, according to the National Weather Service. An additional 30 sites in North and South Carolina had at least 10 inches.
Water on the Cape Fear River near Chinquapin got so high that electronic instruments used to monitor flooding quit working after they became submerged, the U.S. Geological Survey said. The same thing happened on the Trent River.
Still, there was some good news: Power outages in the Carolinas and Virginia were down to about 580,000 homes and businesses after reaching a high of about 910,000 as the hurricane plowed into the coast. Utilities said some outages could last for weeks.
In Goldsboro, North Carolina, home of Seymour Johnson Air
Force Base, roads that frequently flood were already closed Saturday by rushing water. Dozens of electric repair trucks massed to respond to damage expected to hit central North Carolina as rainwater collected into rivers headed to the coast.
Duke Energy said heavy rains caused a slope to collapse at a coal ash landfill at a closed power station outside Wilmington late Saturday, but there was no indication contamination had drained into the nearby Cape Fear River. The company initially estimated that about 2,000 cubic yards of ash was displaced at the landfill, enough to fill about 180 dump trucks.
Near the flooded-out town of
New Bern, where about 455 people had to be rescued from the swirling floodwaters, water surrounded churches, businesses and homes. In the neighboring town of Trenton, downtown streets were turned to creeks full of brown water.