Florence: historic flooding predicted as storm lingers over Carolinas – as it happened

Enormous search and rescue efforts are underway in North and South Carolina, where days of rain and flooding have driven thousands from their homes.

• At least 14 people have died from Hurricane Florence, which was downgraded to a tropical depression yesterday.
• Officials are urging caution on flooded roadways, which have made it difficult to travel in the state. One person died Sunday after a car driving on a flooded road lost control in South Carolina.
• Wilmington, North Carolina is cut off from the rest of the state after damage from Florence closed major roads into the city of 117,525 people. The main roads into the city are closed or impassable.
• A tornado warning has been issued for the region near Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, which has been pummeled by Florence. And a tornado warning was issued in North Carolina.

Khushbu Shah writes for the Guardian from Rice’s Creek, North Carolina, a town of 27 people.

Rice’s Creek is in a low-lying, rural, unincorporated area of Brunswick county. It was seeing the waters rise, in real time.

First they let the chickens out, so they could find a safe space in the trees. Then Hamrick shut off the generator, to save the 10 hours of gas he had left. It could be a long time before the power comes back to this community.

“We’re not a big city,” Dreeland said. “We’re 27 people. Nobody gives a shit about us.”

Four roads lead to Alex Tatum’s father’s home, just two miles away. Two flooded in the last few hours of Saturday, waves forming in mini seas left by Florence, Towne Creek and Rice Creek rising after three days of rain. Another was blocked by a fallen tree. One option remained: it involved yet another flood, not as high as the others.

“Wow, this road used to be beautiful,” Tatum said, looking sadly at a two-story home now without a roof. “I was going to rent that home,” he said, pointing to a flooded front yard with a tree on top of it. A spa and fitness center, opened a month ago, was half submerged.

The Associated Press has more from North Carolina’s biggest city, Charlotte. The National Weather Service has declared a flash-flood emergency for part of the region home to the city.

The AP reports:

The emergency was put into effect Sunday afternoon for central and southeastern Mecklenburg County. The weather service says streams and creeks are running very high in south Charlotte, Matthews and nearby areas.

The weather service warns some bodies of water have risen to record stages and impacts may be “unprecedented.”
The city of Charlotte tweeted that residents should stay off the roads.

A flash-flood emergency also was declared for adjacent Union County, where the weather service says several water rescues were underway and emergency management officials reported as many as 70 flooded roads.

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Pet rescues are a big part of any natural disaster.

In Kinston, North Carolina, April Casey and her acquaintances rescued 18 dogs, according to the News and Observer.

“I love dogs. I love animals, period,” Casey said. “… They can’t save themselves. There was some locked in the house, and the one that was hurt was locked up underneath the steps. Some of them were in kennels, some of them weren’t. There was just a lot of them back there.”

In all, Casey said she and her crew rescued 18 dogs. It was her understanding, she said, that several of the dog’s owners had chosen to leave them in a place where they thought they’d be safe. The house where the dogs were found was believed, until Saturday, to be on the high ground.

Watch Florence travel from Africa to the US in just 14 seconds:

More from Wilmington, North Carolina, which is unreachable because of dangerous road conditions. A look inside Wilmington from the Associated Press:

While the city was cut off from the outside, streets in Wilmington were busy with motorists.

Victor Merlos was overjoyed to find a store open for business since he had about 20 relatives staying at his apartment, which still has power. He spent more than $500 on cereal, eggs, soft drinks and other necessities, plus beer.

“I have everything I need for my whole family,” said Merlos.
Police guarded the door of another store and only 10 people were allowed inside at a time. Dallas Perdue told The Associated Press he waited about two hours to get into the store to buy a few groceries.

Officials said the state was working with the Department of Defense and National Guard to see if they could get first responders through to Wilmington in high-water vehicles. Officials are also working on “other contingencies to support Wilmington on the ocean side.”

Driving in North Carolina right now is hazardous, particulary in the southern part of the state:

The view from above:

Major warning for North Carolina’s most populous city, Charlotte.

16 Sept 201814.07 EDT

Adam Gabbatt

The Guardian’s Adam Gabbatt is about three miles south of Lumberton, North Carolina, in a neighborhood where the coast guard are going door to door – mostly by boat – urging people to leave.

Scores of houses are standing in about three feet of water as the Lumber River has broken its banks and swamped the surrounding area.

Some people were frantically trying to leave. A man called David was stranded in his home until his brother arrived to pick him up in a 4x4 truck. Unfortunately, the truck then got stuck.

With the help of a big chain and my rented Jeep we were able to pull him out, and the pair have headed to higher ground.

The latest numbers on Florence from the Associated Press:

• Storm deaths: At least 14 people have died.
  
• Heavy rains: Nearly 31 inches (79 centimeters) of rain was reported in Swansboro, on the North Carolina coast In the dark: About 740,000 outages as of Sunday morning, mostly in North Carolina.
• Protected: More than 20,000 people in shelters in North Carolina, 6,400 people in South Carolina and 400 people in Virginia
• Grounded: More than 2,400 flights canceled.
• Storm losses: Mayor of New Bern, North Carolina, says his city has 30 roads still unpassable, 4,200 homes and more than 300 commercial buildings damaged, 6,000 customers without power and 1,200 residents in shelters.
• Rescued: more than 500 people needed help in high waters around New Bern and Jacksonville, North Carolina.

The nonprofit World Central Kitchen (WCK), founded by chef Jose Andres, has been on the scene providing meals to those affected by the hurricane.

WCK was also on-the-ground after Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, where they were cooking 120,000 to 150,000 meals per day for two weeks in October.

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16 Sept 201813.21 EDT

Oliver Laughland

The Guardian’s Oliver Laughland reports from Goldsboro, North Carolina - a city bracing for potentially catastrophic flooding.

Sunday service at the Greenleaf Christian church was cancelled today. The church’s pastor is the world famous civil rights leader William Barber, who was forced to evacuate his 86-year-old mother further west to the city of Greensboro.

Barber, who is leading a nationwide civil rights movement, The Poor People’s Campaign, told the Guardian that Florence highlighted the region’s racial and economic inequality.

The city of Goldsboro is home to one of North Carolina’s coal-ash dumps, which was flooded during hurricane Matthew in 2016, leading to pollution of the Neuse River

“We talk about racism when Charlottesville happens, or racism when Rosanne Barr say something foolish, but what about the racism and the classism when you look at where these coal-ash sites are that leak and spill during natural disasters?” Barber said on the phone from Washington DC.

“What about the racism and classism that’s at work in the south when many elected officials get elected because of voter suppression and gerrymandering? And then get elected and enact policies that deny people healthcare, which is so important in the aftermath of these disasters?”

Barber said he plans to return to Goldsboro soon to oversee outreach efforts his staff are working in. The church, which services some of the poorest residents in the city, will hand out free meals to children who would usually receive food during school, which is likely to be closed on Monday.

“For many of these kids, those school meals are the best or only meal they get a day,” Barber said.

“We are a poor, low wealth church, for the most part. We’re not a congregation of lawyers and doctors, for the most part - although they’d be welcome,” he added.

“I have members who live in rental housing that were afraid their housing was going to get destroyed during this particular hurricane. Thank god it lowered down to a category 1. If it were a category 3 or 4 a number of my members would be out of home.”

A tornado warning has been issued in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, which has been pummeled by Florence.

At 12:55pm, the National Weather Service said: “a severe thunderstorm capable of producing a tornado was located over Allsbrook, or 11 miles northeast of Conway, moving north at 35 mph.”

North Carolina’s transportation secretary, Jim Trogdon, told the Associated Press one of his top priorities is to find a way to get into Wilmington after damage from Florence closed major roads into the city of 117,525 people.

The main roads into the city are closed or impassable

Officials are planning for food and water to be flown to the region.