Carolinas flood after Florence: Live updates | CNN (2024)

Over 200 roads across South Carolina are closed, including 40 major roads, said Department of Transportation Secretary Christy Hall.

A car drives though rising floodwaters at an intersection near the beach as Hurricane Florence on Friday in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

Hall said DOT is preparing for more closures as the flooding makes its way south, especially at bridges, which are expected to be covered by water well before the rivers crest.

Transportation has also been hit hard in North Carolina, where about 1,000 roads have been closed and major highways flooded.

Flooded highways have cut off the city of Wilmington and are threatening water supplies in Lumberton, officials say.

According to the North Carolina Department of Transportation, there are about 1,000 road closures, and no safe way in or out of Wilmington.

Portions of the I-95 could remain closed all week, said Corey Walters, deputy director of public works. It won’t reopen until the Lumber River, which crested to 25 feet yesterday, begins to drop.

The North Carolina city of Lumberton, through which the I-95 runs, is working to pump out floodwater. If the water level is allowed to rise, it could flood the water treatment plant and cut off the entire city’s water supply, Walters said.

Officials are recommending that residents conserve water to prepare for a worst case scenario.

Speaking at a press conference alongside the Polish president, Trump addressed the ongoing recovery efforts in areas hit by the storm.

“I do want to say that while we’re together, tremendouseffort and bravery is being shown in North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and the area that was so horribly hit by Hurricane Florence,” Trump said.

He added, “I just got some clips of some of the things that the Coast Guard is doing and getting people to safety in horrible conditions. And I want to salute the first responders, law enforcement, the military, FEMA – the job they are doing is incredible. It is incredible. So I just want to thank them very much.”

Watch more:

12,000 residents are “in harm’s way” as the Cape Fear River continues to rise, according to Fayetteville City Manager Doug Hewett.

82 water rescues have already been performed in the area and more continue, Hewett said.

The river, currently at over 60 feet, is expected to crest at 61 to 62 feet at about noon Wednesday. That timing is later than initially anticipated due to rainfall the area received Monday night and water from tributaries continuing to drain into the Cape Fear River according to Hewett.

The city of Fayetteville has approved $2.3 million in flood recovery funding, Hewett said.

Check out the National Weather Service’s graph showing the river’s rise into major flood stage over the past few days:

President Trump touted in two tweets what a “great job” his administration was doing in its response to Hurricane Florence and said Democrats would soon “start ranting” about the response as a “disaster.”

There has been no notable criticism from Democrats of the federal response to Hurricane Florence.

FEMA Director Brock Long.

FEMA Director Brock Long said that he’s pleased so far with the Florence response but added that “we’ve got a long way to go” to recover.

Long said there are a lot of people in shelters and a lot of displaced residents.

“It’s going to take some time for the water to recede,” he said. “Some rivers haven’t crested yet.”

FEMA is operating in North Carolina to help fix the transportation system and get roads back open, so crews can get in and get the power back on.Fixing the power will “solve 80% of the problems we see,” Long said.

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, who plans to meet with President Trump when he visits the state, said he and Long will travel to Wilmington today to assess the damage there.

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper laid out some of the stark impact Florence has had on the Tar Heel state:

The Coast Guard released its own set of numbers showing its response to the storm:

If you evacuated from some of North Carolina’s barrier islands, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s satellite imagery can help you check in on your home.

NOAA released aerial photos, taken after Hurricane Florence made landfall, of some of the islands. You can zoom in and check out the damage, even if you’re far away from home.

You can access the images here.

President Trump will travel Wednesday to areas impacted by Hurricane Florence in North Carolina and South Carolina, sources tell CNN.

Trump is expected to visit Myrtle Beach while in South Carolina. It is not yet clear where in North Carolina Trump is expected visit.

Sens. Lindsey Graham and Tim Scott are expected to fly on Air Force One with Trump.

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster talks about rising river floodwaters on Monday in Wallace, South Carolina.

South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster warned residents that the hurricane was over but that the flooding threat was not yet done.

“It’s all not here yet, it appears.They are having record flooding in North Carolina, Wilmington I believe is cut-off and other places, and we’ve not experienced that,” McMaster said.

The governor took an aerial tour over flooded Cheraw, South Carolina.

“Sure enough, it reminded me of earlier floods where you get down close to the forest and you see water, water everywhere. In some places, you could hardly tell where the river was, cause the water was everywhere,” he said.

Along the coast, the winds and rain are gone, but in the northern part of the state they are having major flooding, McMaster said.He said they are shifting all their resources and attention to river flooding.

Four dams have breached in North and South Carolina, FEMA said Tuesday morning.

In South Carolina, the three breached are…

CNN reported the Lilesville dam in North Carolina breached on Monday evening, forcing evacuations of homes along Highway 145.

FEMAsaid assessments are ongoing at other “high-hazard dams.”

Normally, the Cape Fear River in Fayetteville, North Carolina, floods when it reaches 35 feet.

At 9 a.m. Tuesday, the river reached 59.57 feet. And it’s still rising.

The river, already in major flood stage, is forecast to rise to 61.5 feet later today before it recedes over the coming few days.

Want visual evidence? Check out the rising waters in this composite image from Fayetteville Police:

There have been least 2,600 swift-water rescues in North Carolina as of yesterday just after noon, the North Carolina Department of Public Safety reports. About 300 animals have also been rescued.

These rescues don’t include any that were conducted by volunteer groups or individuals helping others.

A large tree that fell during Hurricane Florence lies on top of a home in the Evergreen mobile home park in Newport, North Carolina.

CNN spoke to Ron Magill, who survived Hurricane Andrew in 1992, and Colette Bennett, who lived in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina in 2005, about life rebuilding from a devastating hurricane.

They answered six major questions hurricane survivors face:

Read their important answers here.

This drone video from the North Carolina Division of Aviation shows how flooding from Florence has transformed I-40 from a highway into a waterway.

The footage, taken near mile marker 387 in Pender County, “illustrates our message that travel towards this area is impassable and unsafe,” the North Carolina Department of Transportation said.

Check out the footage:

Florence’s rains are moving out of the Carolinas and Virginia, where the forecast calls for only a few scattered showers and storms and little to no tornado threat.

Still, over 9 million remain under flood warnings, including Wilmington, Myrtle Beach, Greensboro, Winston-Salem, Durham, and Chapel Hill.

Widespread flooding is reported in the region, and many roads are still impassable because of flood waters. Many rivers remain in major flood stage, and at least 10 locations are or will set historic record crests with the storm.

A few rivers are still rising and won’t even crest until the weekend, and many locations will remain in major flood stage all the way into next week.

This map below shows the broad extent of flooding at various rivers in North and South Carolina. Purple represents major flooding, red is moderate flooding, and orange is minor flooding.

In its final act before moving offshore, post-tropical cyclone Florence is expected to bring heavy rain to parts of New England and the mid-Atlantic on Tuesday.

As Florence leaves flooded towns in the Carolinas and the aftermath of tornadoes in Virginia, the remnants of the storm are expected to affect eastern Pennsylvania, Washington, New York and Massachusetts, said CNN meteorologist Pedram Javaheri.

Flash flood watches are in effect from Maryland and northern Virginia northward into southern New York and eastward across portions of southern New England, according to the National Weather Service.

Over 20 million people live in areas under flash flood watches, including Baltimore, Washington and Boston.

But the end is near. Most of Florence’s rain will fall today. The storm system will finally move offshore tomorrow, ending its effects on the US.

Here’s the latest rainfall forecast from the National Hurricane Center:

Today was the first day evacuees, specifically residents and business owners, were allowed to return to New Bern, North Carolina, to survey the damage left behind from Florence.

More importantly, it was a day to strategize over what is set to be a long and complicated recovery process.

These photos pictures are some of what they came back to (for those who left), and for those who stayed it’s what they began working on.

One woman, Rachel Smith, who owns an ice cream shop here called Bear City Fudge Company and chose to ride the storm out, told us, “I’m never doing that again.”

She went to check on her business today and says that it’s okay, but she’s got a lot of clean up to do.

The National Guard is also here posted at checkpoints across the city helping with the response. Police officers on patrol this morning told us they’re helping control entry to some of the restricted zones in the city.

City Manager Mark Stephens, speaking at a press conference earlier today, said that more than 4,300 homes were damaged or destroyed and over 300 businesses suffered the same fate.

“Our city has suffered one of the worst storms ever in its 308-year history,” he said.

Bill Kozak’s father-in-law has been living in Lumberton, North Carolina, for 30 years.

During the first 28, he never experienced a flood — but in the last two his house has flooded twice.

In 2016, Hurricane Matthew ravaged the small North Carolina town of Lumberton, leaving many residents troubled with flood damage. For Kozak and his family, Florence feels like deja vu.

Kozak’s wife, 5-year-old son, his mother, his sister, his 9-year-old niece and his father-in-law all live on the same street in Lumberton. According to Kozak, they are prepared to fix the damage Florence has brought — but after they finish, Kozak his family is planning on moving from Lumberton.

Here’s a look at the house:

Rhonda Rebecca Hartley, 30, died in a car accident in South Carolina’s Lexington County on Sunday morning, according to Lexington County Coroner Margaret Fisher.

Hartley’s vehicle crossed the center line, left the roadway to the left, and struck a tree. She was not wearing a seatbelt when the incident occurred.

This brings the Florence death toll in South Carolina to six. The others were…

Durham resident Kate Medley woke up to a series of tornado warnings and flooding, as she snapped this picture just outside of Duke University’s campus.

Luckily for Medley, her house was not affected.

“My house is about five blocks away from there and we haven’t received any flooding so far,” Medley told CNN.

Although a lot of Durham residents thought they avoided a direct blow from Florence, Medley said today’s flooding feels like a different story.

Here’s what the flooding looks like:

Brian Lindsay shot drone video Monday of a flooded section of I-95 in Lumberton, North Carolina. He says a 3-mile section of the road is flooded.

He shot the video at about 9 a.m. ET. Check it out:

After days of nearly continuous rain in parts of the Carolinas, the rainfall is becoming more scattered in nature.

What to expect now: The heaviest rain will now begin to move from the Carolinas and Virginia into the Northeast.In total over 25 million are under flash flood watches for the potential of more flooding, and dozens of counties in the Carolinas and Virginia remain under flood and flash flood warnings.

But note: Even with the heavy rain shifting north, the Carolinas are by no means out of the woods.Rivers will continue to crest into tomorrow and into Wednesday and remain in major flood through the week, with many rivers shattering previous record crests.

As the rain begins to taper off to more scattered storms today, the flash flooding will begin to recede, but by no means is the flooding over.

The devastating flooding could last well this week and into the weekend, with rivers remaining in major flood

Florence has dumped — and continues to dump — a lot of rain on the Carolinas.

How much rain exactly? Florence has thehighest rainfall total for any tropical system to strike the US East Coast — ever.

Here are a few more statistics about the storm:

The National Weather Service’s Raleigh office tweeted earlier this morning that they observed one minute of sunshine after days of stormy skies. They added: “#theendisnear.”

The body of an elderly man was found next to his submerged sedan this morning, according to North Carolina’s Union County Sheriff Departmentspokesman Tony Underwood.

Underwood says a driver found the elderly man’s body this morning while driving on Landsford Road in Union County.

Underwood says this is the second storm related death in Union County.

There are now a total of 20 storm-related deaths in the Carolinas.

Elizabethtown is now the North Carolina city with the most Florence rain, according to the National Weather Service. So far, it’s gotten a reported 35.93 inches since Thursday afternoon.

Earlier, Swansboro had been the North Carolina city with the most rain. It’s now No. 2, with almost 34 inches of rain.

Here’s a breakdown of rain totals across the state:

The body of 1-year old Kaiden Lee-Welch was recovered on Monday, according to the Union County Sheriff Department, raising the death toll in the storm and its aftermath to 19.

Search and rescue teams spent several hours on Sunday searching for him after he was swept away in rushing waters from Richardson Creek, according to the Union County Sheriff Department.

Union County Sheriff Department described what happened on their Facebook page.

Chapel Hill, North Carolina — the college town home to the University of North Carolina Tar Heels — experienced flash flooding over night.

Resident Michael Johnson shared this photo of a floodedshopping center Monday morning.

“I was there yesterday. there was no standing water. It was raining moderately but no big deal,” Johnson told CNN via Instagram. “I was surprised to see the quick change in conditions overnight,” he added.

A man wades through rising flood waters on the Cape Fear River in Wilmington, North Carolina, on Friday.

The National Weather Service reports that the Cape Fear River in North Carolina is continuing to rise, and parts of it will flood today.

The area near Fayetteville is expected to see major flooding today, according to the service:

Meanwhile, the river near Lillington will likely enter moderate flooding:

Flooding is seen near Interstate Highway 95 in Lumberton, North Carolina, on Sunday.

More than 500,000 customers across North and South Carolina are without power this morning.

But keep in mind: These numbers reflect the customers without power, not people. A lot of those customers might have multiple people in their households, meaning the number of people without power could be even higher.

North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein says his office received more than 500 complaints relating to price gouging.

State law saysbusinesses aren’t allowed to spike prices during any natural disaster for necessary items like food, water and hotel rooms.

Those most common reports of price gouging during Hurricane Florence has been on gas and water. The attorney general says his office has also received reports of hotels over-charging evacuees.

Businesses that charge too much may have to refund customers andpay up to $5,000 for every violation.

To report potential price gouging in North Carolina: call 1-877-5-NO-SCAM or file a complaint at www.ncdoj.gov.

Florence made landfall near Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina, as a Category 1 hurricane Friday morning.

It crawled across North and South Carolina (for much of the weekend the storm moved about as fast as you can walk) over the weekend, dumping rain and causing flooding across the states.

At least 18 people were killed in the storm.

Flooding has trapped hundreds. More than 900 water rescues have been reported in North Carolina alone, the governor’s office said — but many more people need help.

The volunteer United Cajun Navy rescue group says it was helping in Leland, where about 200 people have made calls for help, after it made numerous rescues in Wilmington.

Florence has been downgraded to a tropical depression, but it’s still wreaking havoc on the Carolina coast. Here’s what you need to know about the storm today: