Rain won’t relent
Catastrophe builds in Carolinas.
Rivers approached record flood stage and more than 660,000 utility customers were without power Sunday as North Carolina struggled under the crushing fury of Florence. The mighty hurricane diminished to a tropical depression but kept pounding the region with unrelenting rain.
The death toll rose to 17 Sunday. Florence stalled over the Carolinas and was forecast to dump up to 10 more inches of rain in some areas, the National Hurricane Center said. Parts of southeastern North Carolina could see up to 40 inches before the rain ends.
“These rainfall amounts will produce catastrophic flash flooding, prolonged significant river flooding and an elevated risk for landslides in western North Carolina and far southwest Virginia,” the hurricane center warned.
Swansboro, North Carolina, was awash in 34 inches of rain by Sunday afternoon. “This is historic in terms of the amount of rain from one storm,” National Weather Service meteorologist Bob Oravec said.
Officials from New Hanover County and Wilmington said Sunday that the deluge Saturday night caused severe problems, cutting roads off. The major highways into the area, Interstate 40 and U.S. 74, were not accessible.
State Transportation Secretary Jim Trogdon said one of his top priorities was determining how to restore ground access to the area. “Our roads are flooded,” Woody White, chairman of the county Board of Commissioners, said Sunday at a news conference. “There is no access to Wilmington.”
Trogdon said the state worked with the Department of Defense and National Guard to see if they could get first responders through to Wilmington in high-water vehicles.
The mayor of Swansboro, a tourist town of about 3,000 people dubbed the “friendly city by the sea,” said the town broke a state record for rain. A few homes were damaged, and some businesses near the water suffered minor flooding. Winds were severe early on.
Sections of two interstates, I-40 and
I-95, were shut down because of flooding and debris. Several rivers approached record levels.
In New Bern, hundreds of people were rescued from their flood-swamped homes. Evidence of Florence’s wrath was sprawled across the lawn of Patty and Philip Urick’s home on the Neuse River, all but destroyed by flooding.
Scores of neighbors faced similar damage after the water crested near the tops of their doorways. As water and debris accumulated, front doors caved in and garage doors ripped apart.
“We figured we were safe here on the second floor,” said Philip Urick, 82. “We also surmised the storm was not going to be near as severe as it was.”
Evacuations were still underway in some places. Fayetteville Mayor Mitch Colvin told people living within a mile of the region’s main river, the Cape Fear, or the nearby Little River, that they must get out. Cape Fear River was forecast to crest in Fayetteville early Tuesday and remain in “major” flood stage into Wednesday, Oravec said.
The heaviest rains fell on the north edge of the storm, so North Carolina got the worst of it, though South Carolina wasn’t spared: Myrtle Beach was hit with more than 7 inches of rain. Almost
60,000 customers were without power across the northern part of the state.