SHALOTTE, N.C. _ Rivers were rising out of their banks across the Carolinas on Tuesday as North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper toured flooded areas with Brock Long, administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
With FEMA registrations set to begin Tuesday for victims of Hurricane Florence, the pair were expected to speak publicly at a noon briefing in Raleigh, North Carolina's capital.
Florence's peak rainfall _ 35.94 inches at Elizabethtown, N.C. _ was the fourth-highest for a U.S. hurricane since 1950 and left rivers across the Carolinas swollen.
The storm has killed 32 people, 25 in North Carolina, including a 1-year-old boy whose body was found Monday after he was swept away by floodwaters near Charlotte.
Across North Carolina, 16 rivers had reached major flood stage Tuesday morning, and several more were expected to crest soon, according to Mike Steele, a spokesman for the state emergency management agency. He said high-water rescues were ongoing in several areas.
"The good news is we are starting to see a lot of them peak, but it is going to cause a lot of complications as far as access to roadways for an extended period of time," said Steele, who came from the Baton Rouge, La., area to help with the disaster.
"This is the same situation we faced in Louisiana and Texas during Hurricane Harvey," he said. "By the time you put a report out, some of the conditions have changed." That has led officials to direct residents to stay off the roads or to check state transportation websites for updates.
Matt Stewart, 37, and his family of four were stuck in Raleigh after trying unsuccessfully to return home to Wilmington, blocked by road closures that have cut off that coastal city of 120,000. The family planned to try a new route Tuesday, convoying with a friend in a truck. His father had taken the same route days before, but Stewart was worried about flooding since.
"There isn't any rivers or any lakes or ponds along that route," Stewart said before setting off, worried his house, which had minor damage, might be leaking. "It's my home, some of that stuff is irreplaceable."
Wilmington, where the storm made landfall, has seen a Dollar Store looted and gas and food shortages. About 62,000 people there were still without power.
Officials were preparing to distribute food at three centers around the city Tuesday, said Jessica Loper, a spokeswoman for surrounding New Hanover County.
"These supplies are much needed by folks who can't get to a store or don't have a store near them," Loper said.
She said some gas stations also reopened today, and cars were on the roads, "But we're still very much in recovery mode."
"Neighbors are helping neighbors. This is a true community effort to recover from this storm and the damage it's caused," she said.
Officials expect to know in coming days when roads into the city will be cleared, she said.
"A lot of it's going to have to do with the rivers that are cresting," Loper said.
