How to help those affected by Hurricane Florence
- by Brittany Mendoza
- in Research
- — Sep 18, 2018
Downgraded to a tropical depression, Florence slowly crawled over South and North Carolina, dumping heavy rains on already flood-swollen river basins that authorities warned could bring more death and destruction.
As Hurricane Florence made landfall in the Carolinas Friday- killing at least 17- hundreds more remain trapped inside their homes and authorities said Sunday that the worst is yet to come. Up to 20,000 people are in emergency shelters in North Carolina alone.
As 400-mile-wide (645-kilometer-wide) Florence pounded away at the coast with torrential downpours and surging seas, rescue crews used boats to reach more than 360 people besieged by rising waters in New Bern, North Carolina, while many of their neighbors awaited help.
The storm brought up to 40 inches of rain to some parts of southeastern North Carolina and northeastern SC, according to the National Weather Service.
Homes along the New River are flooded as a result of high tides and rain from hurricane Florence which moved through the area in Jacksonville, N.C., Sunday.
A 1-year-old boy ripped from his mother's arms by fierce floodwaters in North Carolina became one of Florence's latest victims Monday - as the devastating storm's death toll may now be as high as 20, officials and reports said.
Her father, 84-year-old Rembert Walters, says that if his relatives dispersed to different havens, he'd spend all his time worrying about them.
The cost of the damage is expected to reach $15 billion for North Carolina, $2 billion for SC and $1 billion elsewhere, said Chuck Watson, a disaster researcher at Enki Research in Savannah, Georgia.
More than 641,000 homes and businesses were without electricity in North and SC and surrounding states, down from a peak of almost 1 million.
About 17,000 customers were without service in SC, mostly in northeastern SC near the North Carolina state line.
Five people were arrested for breaking into a Dollar General Store, said the police department in Wilmington, which has imposed a nighttime curfew.
"Those rivers in North Carolina that have received heavy rainfall are coming our way", Governor Henry McMaster said during a news conference.
Record flooding was also reported at Little River in Manchester, North Carolina, which had the highest flood level in the region, and the only river to have a water level above 30 feet as of Monday morning.
Americares: Americares is a health-focused disaster relief organization, which deployed a response team to North Carolina last week ahead of the storm. "Flood waters are rising as rivers crest and they will for days".
Fresh evacuations were ordered further inland as rivers crested and spilled out of their banks.
As Filipinos struggled to cope with the wrath of Super Typhoon Mangkhut on Saturday, people on the other side of the world felt the Atlantic Ocean's deadly rage, in the form of Tropical Storm Florence.
Woody White, chairman of the board of commissioners of New Hanover County, said officials were planning for food and water to be flown into the coastal city of almost 120,000 people.
"I can't begin to thank the staff of the city of New Bern for what they're doing and what they're going to continue to do", said Outlaw.
The industrial-scale farms contain vast pits of animal waste that can pose a significant pollution threat if they are breached or inundated by floodwaters.
Flood waters in Wilmington, home to 120,000 people, are still rising.
More than 450 people had to be rescued from swirling flood water over the weekend. Nothing I ever experienced before, I was truly scared, ' he told AFP.
