Deadly storm rages on
Florence flooding spreads as tropical event heads northeast
Emergency workers delivered truckloads of food and water to Wilmington, a city of 120,000 people mostly cut off from the rest of North Carolina by Florence’s still-rising floodwaters, as helicopters and boat pulled people from homes swamped by swollen rivers.
The storm, which is blamed for the deaths of at least 19 people, still had abundant rain and top winds around 30 mph (50 kph) on Monday. Forecasters said it was expected to gradually pick up forward speed and complete a big turn toward the Northeast, which is in for as much as 6 inches (15 centimetres) of rain.
Flooding worries increased in West Virginia and Virginia, where roads were closed and power outages were on the rise. About 500,000 homes and businesses were in the dark.
In some places, the rain stopped after Florence moved on, and the sun peeked through, but North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper urged residents who were evacuated from the hardest-hit areas to stay away because of closed roads and flooding.
“There’s too much going on,” he told a news conference.
The death toll climbed by two as authorities found the body of a 1-year-old boy who was swept away after his mother drove into floodwaters and lost her grip on him while trying to get back to dry land. Elsewhere in North Carolina, an 88-yearold man died after his car was swept away.
Florence was still massive, despite being downgraded to a tropical depression from a once-fearsome Category 4 hurricane.
Radar showed parts of the sprawling storm over six states, with North and South Carolina in the bull’s-eye.
North Carolina emergency response officials tweeted that 23 truckloads of military meals and bottled water were delivered overnight to Wilmington, the state’s eighth-largest city.
One route into the city was reopened by midday Monday, officials said, but it wasn’t clear which road was open and whether it available to the general public.
Signs on a flooded highway leading out of town said
“ROAD CLOSED,” and many streets that weren’t flooded were blocked by fallen timber.
The smell of cracked pine trees wafted through hard-hit neighbourhoods.
Residents waited for hours outside stores and restaurants for water and other basic necessities.
Police guarded the door of one store, and only 10 people were allowed inside at a time.