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Hurricane Florence live updates: Death toll reaches eight in Carolinas as danger from flash flooding soars
Eight people, including a mother and her infant child, have died in the Carolinas from the deadly effects of Hurricane Florence.
The powerful storm flattened trees, buckled buildings and knocked out power to nearly 930,000 homes and businesses as it battered the southeast coast of the US.
It made landfall on Friday with a life-threatening storm surge pushing water inland for miles and more than 60 people had to be pulled from a collapsing motel.
Nearly 400 people had to be rescued from their flooded homes in New Bern, North Carolina, after they decided to try and see out the wind and rain.
Governor Roy Cooper called Florence an "uninvited brute" that could wipe out entire communities as it grinds its way across land.
"The fact is this storm is deadly and we know we are days away from an ending," he said.
Florence was downgraded to a tropical storm with winds of 60 mph (95 kph) as it slowly moved west.
The first known deaths related to the storm were a mother and her infant child who were killed when a tree fell on their house in Wilmington, North Carolina.
In Lenoir County a 78-year-old man was electrocuted and a 77-year-old man was found dead after he went outside to check on his dogs.
A woman also died of a suspected heart attack in Pender county. Although it was not directly related to Florence, emergency services were blocked from attending by storm damage. On Saturday, a further three deaths were confirmed. According to Duplin County Sherriff Blake Wallace, two of the deaths happened outside of Kenansville, while the third happened in Kornegay.
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All coastal storm surge warnings have been discontinued as Tropical Florence slowly plods inland, the Associated Press said reported.
The National Hurricane Center says water levels along the Carolinas coastline were gradually receding Saturday afternoon, though some minor coastal flooding was possible through Sunday.
The Internal Revenue Service has said victims of Hurricane Florence will get a grace period before having to file some tax returns and payments. The IRS said on Saturday it's offering the relief in parts of North Carolina and other regions designated a disaster area by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, according to the Associated Press. Upcoming September deadlines for certain individual and business tax filings and payments will be postponed until January 31 next year.
North Carolina Department of Transportation Secretary Jim Trogdon has asked out-of-state travelers to avoid driving through North Carolina, as much of the state is dealing with rising flood waters from Florence, CNN said.
“We could see this for several days,” Mr Trogdon said at a Saturday press conference. “This is what we need to do today to make sure motorists are safe in North Carolina.”
The North Carolina Department of Transportation says “almost all of NC will be subject to flooding” as road conditions “deteriorate over the next few days”.
The North Carolina city of New Bern - where several hundred people had been stranded - has completed all of its water rescues, the city just announced on its Twitter account.
Many residents who evacuated North Carolina's Outer Banks ahead of Hurricane Florence are making their way back onto the barrier islands, which were spared from the worst of the storm's wrath, the Associated Press has reported. The residents as well as workers and property owners were being allowed onto the northern portion of the islands beginning on Saturday morning. Visitors were expected to be allowed entry to the same area beginning Sunday. County officials and business owners reported relatively minimal damage, and there were no immediate reports of injuries or deaths. While the Outer Banks survived Florence fairly unscathed, scientists say they remain incredibly vulnerable to future storms, climate change, and sea-level rise
“As of 1.30pm on September 15, 2018, Duplin County has had 2 fatalities due to flash flooding and swift water on roadways. All citizens are advised that due to the potential hazards associated with the storm, emergency services may not be immediately available,” the Duplin County Sheriff’s office posted to its official Facebook page. This is the 7th storm related death in North Carolina plus one in South Carolina—bringing the total to 8 for the Carolinas.
North Carolina governor Roy Cooper is holding another press conference. He is saying that his officials' predictions this morning that roads would become more hazardous had already proved true - just in a matter of hours.
"Don't make yourself someone who needs to be rescued," he said. He said more and more inland counties were issuing evacuation orders. Officials say almost all of North Carolina will be subject to flooding
The death toll in North Carolina from Hurricane Florence has risen to eight after three more people died on Saturday due to flooding, WHSV in Wilmington just reported. According to Duplin County Sherriff Blake Wallace, two of the deaths happened outside of Kenansville, while the third happened in Kornegay.
The Associated Press has revealed that Hurricane Florence evacuees from the Carolinas are getting free tickets to watch the University of Florida's football team play Colorado State.
The ticket office and athletic association at the University of Florida extended the invitation to evacuees for Saturday's game at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, Florida. Officials said evacuees had to present a valid ID showing they're from North Carolina or South
Officials in Cumberland County believe the Cape Fear river could exceed 62 ft.
"We do believe the Cape Fear River will crest at 62 feet which is less than Hurricane Matthew. We are being cautious — I will tell you that — because we don’t know for sure that 62 feet is the top crest,” Tracy Jackson, Cumberland County Emergency Services Interim Director, said during a press conference. 'That is what we're anticipating, but we are preparing for worse if we need to.'
Greetings from Washington DC, where President Trump today declared parts of North Carolina a "major disaster", opening the way to get federal assistance to those designated places more quickly.
Tropical Storm Florence dumped "epic" amounts of rain on North and South Carolina as it trudged inland on Saturday, Reuters reports, triggering dangerous flooding, toppling trees, cutting power to nearly a million homes and businesses.
The news agency said the death toll had now risen to six.
Florence's intensity has diminished since it roared ashore along the US mid-Atlantic coast on Friday as a hurricane. But its slow march over the two states, crawling west at only 2 miles per hour, threatens to leave much of the region under water in the coming days.
Tropical storm Florence is now 40 miles west of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and its sustained winds have decreased to 45mph, according to the latest update from the National Hurricane Center.
Florence "is expected to weaken to a tropical depression by tonight", say the NHC.
Experts had warned the effects of the hurricane could be devastating.
“This is a horrific nightmare storm from a meteorological perspective,” University of Georgia meteorology professor Marshall Shepherd said. “We’ve just never seen anything like this. This is just a strange bird.”
The Duke Energy company estimated that between 1 million and 3 million homes could be without power in the wake of the hurricane.
Donald Trump issued a stark warning on Twitter on Wednesday, telling Americans to evacuate and not to “play games with” Florence. “It’s a big one, maybe as big as they’ve seen, and tremendous amounts of water,” he added in a video posted to Twitter.
He claimed federal authorities were “fully prepared” for the hurricane, saying: “The storm will come, it will go, we want everybody to be safe. We’re fully prepared, food, medical, everything you can imagine, we are ready.
“But despite that, bad things can happen when you’re talking about a storm this size. It’s called Mother Nature, you never know. But we know, we love you all, we want you safe, get out of the storm’s way, listen to your local representatives.”
It came just days after an official report criticised the US government’s handling of the response to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, the US territory where some 3,000 people were killed last autumn.
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