Storm fury in US as typhoon hits Philippines
HURRICANE COULD RESULT IN UP TO 102CM OF RAIN AND AFFECT 10M PEOPLE, EXPERTS WARN
Florence claims five lives and Mangkhut leaves 12 dead in its wake |
Tropical Storm Florence trudged inland yesterday, flooding rivers and towns, toppling trees and cutting power to nearly a million homes and businesses as it dumped huge amounts of rain on North and South Carolina, where five people have died.
Florence diminished from hurricane strength as it came ashore on Friday, but forecasters said the 560-kilometrewide storm’s progress across the two states could leave much of the region under water.
The National Hurricane Centre said the storm would dump as much as 76cm-102cm of rain on the southeastern coast of North Carolina and part of northeastern South Carolina, as well as up to 25cm in southwestern Virginia.
“This storm is relentless and excruciating,” North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper told CNN late on Friday. “There is probably not a county or a person that will not be affected in some way by this very massive and violent storm.”
The hurricane centre said Florence had maximum sustained winds near 80km/h and continued to produce catastrophic flooding.
Man electrocuted
On Thursday, Florence was a Category 3 hurricane, with 193km/h winds. It was downgraded to Category 1 before coming ashore on Friday. The hurricane centre downgraded Florence to a tropical storm later in the day.
But about 10 million people could be affected by the storm.
A mother and baby were killed when a tree fell on their Wilmington home. Two people died in Lenoir County. A 78-year-old man was electrocuted while another man died when he was blown down by high winds.
Officials in New Bern, which dates to the early 18th century, said more than 100 people were rescued from floods and the downtown are was under water by Friday afternoon. A spokesman for the town said between
60 and 75 people were awaiting rescue yesterday morning. New Bern’s mayor told CNN that 4,200 homes were damaged.
Resident Jay Manning said he and his wife watched with alarm as water filled the street.
“We moved all the furniture
up in case the water comes in but the water seems to be staying at the edge of the driveway,” he said, adding that if the wind picks up and the rain keeps coming, that could change. “My wife’s in a panic right now.” Dan Eudy said he and his brother were awakened on Thursday night by the sound of a boat ramming against his front porch.
“We had no belief it would be as significant an event as it was,” he said.