Florence ‘a nightmare that just won’t end’ for North Carolinians

WILMINGTON, North Carolina — Hundreds of people waited in long lines for water and other essentials Tuesday in Wilmington, still mostly cut off by high water days after Hurricane Florence unleashed epic floods, and North Carolina’s governor pleaded with more than 10,000 evacuees around the state not to return home yet.

The death toll rose to at least 35 in three states, with 27 fatalities in North Carolina, as Florence’s remnants went in two directions: Water flowed downstream toward the Carolina coast, and storms moved through the U.S. Northeast, where flash floods hit New Hampshire and New York state .

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper warned that the flooding set off by as much as 90 centimetres of rain from Florence is far from over and will get worse in places.

“I know for many people this feels like a nightmare that just won’t end,” he said.

Addressing roughly 10,000 people who remain in shelters and “countless more” staying elsewhere, Cooper urged residents to stay put for now, particularly those from the hardest-hit coastal counties that include Wilmington, near where Florence blew ashore on Friday.

Roads remain treacherous, he said, and some are just being closed as rivers swelled by torrential rains inland drain toward the Atlantic.

In Wilmington, population 120,000, workers began handing out supplies using a system that resembled a giant fast-food drive-through: Drivers pulled up to a line of pallets, placed an order and left without having to get out. A woman blew a whistle each time drivers were supposed to pull forward.

Drivers received such items as tarps, bottled water and military field rations. A forklift moved around huge pallets loaded with supplies.