Flooding from Florence overwhelms North Carolina
Storm-weary residents of North Carolina struggled Monday to loosen the grip of Hurricane Florence, the lingering killer that has closed more than 100 roads, cut off power to almost 500,000 homes and businesses and essentially cut off the city of Wilmington from the world.
At least 31 people have died in the wreckage of the hurricane-turned-tropical depression that dumped 30 inches of rain in parts of the state since last week.
Wilmington, a coastal city of 120,000, has been deluged by more than 26 inches of rain since Thursday, according to the National Weather Service. Most traffic lights were out, and most businesses and homes were without power.
On Monday, 20 heavy-duty trucks from Fort Bragg were snaking through closed roads, packed with enough food and water for 60,000 people for four days. Little other traffic could get in or out.
“Our roads are flooded,” said Woody White, chairman of the board of commissioners in New Hanover County. “There is no access to Wilmington.”
Elizabethtown, 50 miles to the northwest, rang up 36 inches of rain. Gurganus, 50 miles north of Wilmington, also was hit with more than 30 inches.
The tragedies were widespread. Almost 200 miles to the west of Wilmington, the Union County Sheriff’s Office said swift water rescue teams on Monday recovered the body of 1-year-old Kaiden Lee-Welch.
The boy was swept away from his mother after a flooded creek overwhelmed their car Sunday.
Downed lines and flooding slowed the process of restoring power. North Carolina Electric Cooperatives, providing power to about 25 percent of the state’s homes and businesses, reported that power had been restored to more than half of the “historic” 326,000 cooperative customers who went dark in the storm.
“Damage is so widespread that it could take this army of restoration personnel several more days or even weeks to fully restore power,” spokeswoman Kristie Aldridge said.
Dams and levees in areas pelted by Florence were showing signs of distress as rivers overran their banks and authorities warned of more flooding to come. Landslides have become a concern as well – especially in North Carolina’s western mountains.
Tens of thousands faced mandatory evacuation orders from communities along the state’s steadily rising rivers – the Cape Fear, Little, Lumber, Waccamaw and Pee Dee rivers are all projected to overrun their banks. Thousands of residents have taken refuge in more than 100 shelters opened across the state.
“You know it’s hard to leave home,” Gov. Roy Cooper said while touring a string of shelters across the state. “You miss it as soon as you walk out the door. But tens of thousands of North Carolinians have had to do that this week.”
Early Monday, the storm was centered about 240 miles west of Charlottesville, Virginia. Florence was forecast to produce “excessive” rainfall over the next couple of days as it heads north; New York and southern New England were awaiting 2 to 4 inches of rain. Isolated areas could see 6 inches, the National Hurricane Center said.
But North Carolina was feeling the worst of it. Flooding and “catastrophic/ historic river flooding” will continue over much of the Carolinas, the National Hurricane Center warned.