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Hurricane Florence continues to plunge into the southeastern United States on Thursday, resulting in high winds, torrential rains and the threat of "catastrophic" floods. The large and dangerous storm is expected to crash on the Caroline coast and could affect millions of people with rainfall measured in feet rather than inches, flash flood warning and the possibility of extended power outages.
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11:52: Stay despite evacuation orders
MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. – The hotels that line Ocean Boulevard by the shore are mostly closed and some have been shipped. But some residents who live nearby have chosen to stay despite the mandatory evacuation order and the governor's warnings that in these areas of evacuation, it is unlikely that any help will occur a once the storm started.
Staying is a necessity, said neighbors Kathy Sexton and Kelly Britt, who both live in two-story townhouses a few blocks from Ocean Boulevard.
"I stay for my job. I am in the medical field, "said Britt, 50, medical secretary of an emergency care clinic. She said that she had to work on Saturday and that she must be ready to go to work if the clinic is open.
Sexton, 56, said she thought about staying with family members living six hours away, but the long ride would be detrimental to her elderly mother, whose damaged spine prevents her from getting sick. Sit for long periods. She would have booked a hotel further inland, she said, but she could not afford it. She would have stayed in one of the emergency shelters, but animals are not allowed, she added. Sexton has two 15-year-old cats who both need medicine, and she said there was no place to ship them. Even if there was one, she does not trust anyone to take care of them.
"They are like a family. There is no way, she says. Like others who have chosen to stay, the two neighbors do not think that the storm will be as catastrophic as the reports suggest. National newspapers, they say, seem to have silenced him.
– Kristine Phillips
11:28: Florence begins whipping North Carolina
The hurricane center of Florence is still far from the coast, but the impact of the storm is already being felt in North Carolina.
According to the National Hurricane Center, "heavy" rainfall bands accompanied by tropical storm force winds have begun to "spread over the outer banks and southeastern North Carolina." In a late morning update, the hurricane center said the storm was about 145 miles from Wilmington, NS, around 11 am.
While Florence has been downgraded to a category 2 storm compared to category 4, this measure only concerns wind speed – and water is a much greater threat. Storm surges and floods are the leading causes of hurricane deaths in the United States. It was predicted that Florence was still poised to create a dangerous storm surge, with waters up to 13 feet in parts of North Carolina, and could dump more than three feet of rain into parts of the Carolinas.
On Thursday morning, in the outer banks, you could see seawater wash on the ground and flood the roads.
The center of the storm is expected to approach the coast of the Carolinas later Thursday.
– Mark Berman
10:55: Waiting for the arrival of Florence
WILMINGTON, N.-C. – It is the day of waiting along the coast of North Carolina that the overcast sky and the increasing breeze warn that Hurricane Florence is en route. Around 8:00 am on Thursday, people at one of the five shelters in New Hanover County were outside, smoking and watching the weather, trying to control their anticipation and fears.
"I guess it's unheard of what's going to happen," said Jack Ashby Jr., 60, of Wilmington. He sat in front of Trask College and plans to spend his day talking to friends and playing cards. His house is old and he fears floods. "I'd rather sleep in my own bed if you know what I mean."
He was alone, but Shannon Soto, 42, brought him three teenage girls and his two-week-old grandson, born prematurely, from their caravan.
"He is probably the youngest in the region," she said. "All he does is because he wants to be constantly restrained. Between him and the storm. . . no one is going to sleep tonight. "
Richard L. Ford, 34, has already seen hurricanes, even though he lives in Denver. He works "in the tree trade," he said, eliminating the woods that fell after the storms. He found a job after Hurricane Harvey in Houston and Hurricane Irma in Florida and is hoping for a similar salary in North Carolina, where he stayed with his aunt until she decided to evacuate.
"I'm not worried at all," he said, inhaling a trail of his cigarette. "I find it funny that the storm of hysteria is bigger than the storm itself. "
– Patricia Sullivan
10:40 am: "Water is the devil"
TYBEE ISLAND, Ga. – For Virginia Ward, who runs the Crab Shack restaurant business on the island, the storm is synonymous with anxiety, even with her meditation.
"I'm worried because it took $ 40,000 to get my cottage back after Hurricane Irma," said Ward, 73. This storm last year dumped more than two and a half feet of water into his cabin.
Ward does not leave, though. She says she knows it's time to evacuate Tybee Island if there's a hurricane – she evacuated once, for Hurricane David in 1975 – and she's not one of them.
"Water is the devil," she said of the damage caused by hurricanes and storm surges. "I'm not reckless, but I'm not going to run the first time anyone mentions a hurricane."
Jack Flanigan, who co-owns the restaurant, shrugged when asked about Florence and suggested the storm was mundane.
"People living on Tybee Island do not evacuate too fast," said 85-year-old Flanigan. "Evacuation is a chore."
Tybee Island is a barrier island and a small town near Savannah. It is famous for its large sandy beaches, including South Beach, with its pier and pavilion. The north of the island is home to the Screven Fort, which has batteries of 19th century concrete rifles and the lighthouse and museum of Tybee Island. The eighteenth century lighthouse, which still works, has been rebuilt several times.
– Sharon Dunten
10:15 am: Enter a last day of surf before the storm
9:30 am: A regular coffee and worry about the flood
KINSTON, N.-C. – The McDonald's main highway was busy on Wednesday, as travelers from the coast crossed this small town inland. But early Thursday morning, Mack Lewis was the only one at a table.
He comes to this McDonald's every day, and it was too early to tell how Hurricane Florence would disrupt his regular coffee distribution. Lewis, a retired electrician, said the storm was not Kinston's main concern. It is the flood that comes days, even a week later, which is the most devastating in a city that must wait until the nearby river Neuse rises.
From the city's flagship restaurant, the King's Restaurant, to a family-owned tire store, just a few miles away, Lewis said business owners had to pack their bags, wipe the mud : "I never thought of coming back here again."
But Lewis said many in Kinston had no choice. Older businesses and older residents have nowhere to go. The economy is struggling in a place where there are "more houses than there are businesses". "It's almost a fight to continue as before," said Lewis.
A few hours before Florence started whipping the coast, Lewis was in no hurry to leave his stand. He lives alone, but he was not worried about staying busy during the storm. He gave the only generator he has to his granddaughter. And he said the damage to Kinston would still not be as bad as the ravages that linger a year after hurricanes in Puerto Rico and Texas.
"The best scenario, it takes a few weeks to get back to normal," said Lewis. At the counter, a young man grabbed his bag and thanked the cashier.
"Be careful, buddy," he said, turning away.
"You too," replied the cashier.
– Rachel Siegel
Panels cover the panes of a grocery store in Myrtle Beach, S.C., Wednesday, as the storm approached. (Alex Edelman / AFP / Getty Images)
8:30 pm: Florence could park off, which would not be good
MYRTLE BEACH, SC – Forecasters warn that when Hurricane Florence approaches land, it could slip into the water and then walk unpredictably along the coast, sucking energy from the warm ocean to the detriment of coastal communities.
Florence could potentially drift to South Carolina while staying just offshore, as if she were looking for a port. A long stretch of the Carolinas remains inside the "cone of uncertainty" of the storm's course, and experts warn of the additional risks of a storm that could park in an area for an extended period.
"It could stay there as a Category 3 or 4 hurricane off the coast for a day," said Brian McNoldy, associate researcher at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science and Capital Weather collaborator. Gang of the Washington Post. "It would not be good. If it's getting closer to the coast and just hitting the coast or it's just inland, but it's right there, it's like pressing the most violent touch of the landing.
More to read:
Retirement homes rush to get old people and sick people out of hurricane trail
City by city forecasts for Hurricane Florence
The shelter in the hurricane path warns that he will euthanize the animals if he can not find people to adopt them
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