Hurricane Florence floods devastate North Carolina

Hurricane Florence drenched North Carolina with more downpours on Sunday, Sept. 16, damaging tens of thousands of homes and threatening worse flooding as rivers fill to the bursting point, Reuters reported on Sept. 16.

Florence weakened to a tropical depression by Sunday but dumped up to 40 inches (100 cm) of rain on parts of North Carolina since Thursday, Sept. 13, and continued to produce widespread heavy rain over much of North Carolina and eastern South Carolina, according to the National Weather Service.

Some rivers were not expected to crest until Monday or Tuesday, the National Weather Service reportedly said.

More than 900 people were rescued from rising floodwaters and 15,000 remained in shelters in the state, governor Roy Cooper told a news conference.

Many of those rescues took place on swift boats in Wilmington, a historic coastal city of about 117,000 people on a peninsula between the Cape Fear River and the Atlantic Ocean.

The National Weather Service warned on Sunday of catastrophic flash flooding, prolonged significant river flooding, and elevated risk of landslides in western North Carolina and southwestern Virginia.

Even as Florence weakens and moves further west into the southern Appalachians, it will continue to produce very heavy rains in some locations -- further exacerbating dangerous conditions across portions of the eastern into the central Carolinas, while deteriorating conditions unfold further west across the southern into the central Appalachians, the National Weather Service said.

Heavy rains developing further west across the mountains are expected to elevate the risk for landslides in western North Carolina and southwestern Virginia late Sunday into Monday. In addition to heavy rains, there remains a threat for thunderstorms capable of producing tornadoes across portions of northeastern South Carolina and southeastern North Carolina.

By Monday night, with Florence forecast to begin turning to the northeast, the heavy rain threat is expected to spread from western Pennsylvania into New York, reaching into central New England early Tuesday, the National Weather Service said.

Earlier on, Florence’s heavy rains hammered South Carolina’s northern counties, causing flooding, road closures and evacuations.

The storm also has reportedly resulted in six deaths in South Carolina, in addition to 10 fatalities in North Carolina.

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