The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Florence a Category 4, takes aim at Carolinas
Florence exploded into a potentially catastrophic Category 4 hurricane Monday as it closed in on North and South Carolina, carrying winds up to 130 mph and water that could wreak havoc over a wide stretch of the eastern United States later this week.
The South Carolina governor ordered the state’s entire coastline to be evacuated starting at noon Tuesday and predicted that 1 million people would flee.
The storm’s first effects were already being seen on barrier islands as dangerous rip currents hit beaches and seawater flowed over a state highway. Communities along a stretch of coastline that is vulnerable to rising sea levels prepared to evacuate.
For many people, the challenge could be finding a safe refuge: If Florence slows to a crawl just off the coast, it could bring torrential rains to the Appalachian mountains and as far away as West Virginia, causing flash floods, mudslides and other dangerous conditions.
The storm’s potential path also includes half a dozen nuclear power plants, pits holding coal-ash and other industrial waste, and numerous hog farms that store animal waste in massive open-air lagoons. Donald Trump attributed to them in his new book, “Fear.”
Kelly is quoted calling Trump “an idiot,” and Mattis is quoted saying Trump has the understanding of “a fifth or sixth-grader,” but they’ve said they didn’t make those statements.
Woodward, asked on Monday on NBC’s “Today” show about their denials, said, “They are not telling the truth.” He said “these are political statements to protect their jobs.”
The Pulitzer Prize-winning Woodward staunchly defended the integrity of his reporting and said the book, which comes out this week, “is as carefully done as you can do an excavation of the reality of what goes on.”
Trump, though, has called the book “fiction.” Since excerpts were released last week, Trump has accused Woodward of making up quotes attributed to him and others.