Florence’s dangerous ‘flooding is only going to get worse,’ officials warn
Posted By: Channel 8 Eyewitness News
8@klkntv.com
ABC News – Florence’s dangerous flooding "is only going to get worse," North Carolina’s director of emergency management warned Saturday as massive amounts of rain devastate the state.
"We have never seen flash flooding like this in our state," state Transportation Secretary Jim Trogdon added at a press conference Saturday afternoon.
Trogdon said flash flooding will last for several days and river and marine flooding could last up to a week.
"We just don’t want people to think this thing is over, because it’s not," North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper added Saturday of Florence, which made landfall near Wrightsville Beach Friday morning as a hurricane and has since been downgraded to a tropical storm.
"We know the water is rising fast everywhere — even in places that don’t typically flood," Cooper said.
Catastrophic flooding has already wreaked havoc on parts of eastern North Carolina, which sustained 2 feet of rain in some areas, and up to 40 inches in other hard-hit spots.
Newport, North Carolina, reported 23.75 inches of rainfall by Saturday morning.
Hoffman, North Carolina, has seen 19.96 inches and Conway, South Carolina, has seen 8.68 inches — with two days of rainfall to come.
At least 13 people were reported dead in the storm, with three in South Carolina and the other 10 in North Carolina.
Among the fatalities are a mother and her baby killed in Wilmington, North Carolina, by a falling tree, and an 81-year-old man who fell and struck his head while packing to evacuate in Wayne County, North Carolina.
There were nearly 800,000 people without power in North and South Carolina combined Saturday evening.
