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Patricia Sullivan
Journalist covering government, politics and other regional issues in Arlington County and Alexandria
Steven Mufson
Reporter covering energy and other financial issues
KINSTON, N.C. – Communities across the Carolinas were cut off and turned into virtual islands on Sunday as water blocked roads, ports were closed and authorities carefully monitored damaged utility systems and 3,300 "manure-laden" ponds . Rivers continue to rise and some should not stay on the peak for several days.
Hurricane Florence killed at least 17 people on Sunday night as the remnants of the storm, turned into a tropical depression, spread to western North Carolina and the Appalachian Mountains. The coastal storm surge, which flooded cities along tidal rivers, has faded, but the flooding of the river is intensifying as Florence's record rainfall rushes towards the sea.
Flooded roads are a major concern, with some of them being more dangerous than they seem to drivers for the first time. In North Carolina, more than 600 roads are closed and the State Department of Transportation has stated that motorists should avoid the state altogether. Interstate 95, a crucial artery on the east coast, is blocked in both directions in Lumberton, North Carolina, where the Lumber River on Sunday was already five feet above sea level. "major" flood.
First responders and the Coast Guard rescued more than 900 people from high water.
"This storm has never been so dangerous," North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper (D) said at the noon news conference.
A car crosses a flooded intersection in Latta, eastern South Carolina, on Sunday. (Ricky Carioti / The Washington Post)
Cooper said that about 20,000 people resided in about 150 shelters in North Carolina. Local and federal officials warned the evacuees that returning home was dangerous.
"For those who have evacuated, please stay where you are," said Bill Saffo, Mayor of Wilmington, N.C.
The storm and floods have created many threats to life and health.
Officials from Gaston County, North Carolina, said a three-month-old baby was killed on Sunday when a tree fell in a family's mobile home. The infant and his mother were taken to a hospital where the baby died, said Major Jamie McConnell, County Emergency Medical Services.
Authorities said on Sunday that a man and a woman in their early 60s died in Horry County, South Carolina, following a carbon monoxide poisoning caused by a generator in their home. Two other South Carolinians died in car accidents, officials said. In Duplin County, BC, officials said two people died on Saturday when sudden floods overran the roads.
At least 11 people in North Carolina and six in South Carolina died as a result of the storm.
In Kinston City, hundreds of people woke up Sunday for another day at the Lenoir Community College emergency shelter.
For Clifton Jones and his girlfriend, Traci Vann, it was their fourth day of shelter and another day to wonder what would happen to the Neuse.
"You're just a little stuck here until you find where the water is going," Jones said.
"We could be stuck on this island for a few weeks," said Vann.
Jones said he does not have flood insurance.
"If I flood, I lost everything," he said. "I do not know how I was able to overcome and start over again."
Ray Edwards, the shelter manager, said 300 staff and guests were inside. Another shelter in Kinston had to divert people to community college after losing power and starting to empty sewage.
Speaking, his phone started ringing.
"Oh, food!" Edwards says. He was eager to send trucks to pick up a hot barbecue at a Goldsboro restaurant.
"Where are you, how many meals do you have?" He said on the phone.
74-year-old David Croom had come to the shelter to ask for information about when electricity would come back. His house in a trailer park nearby was without electricity since Thursday. His wife needed ice cream to keep her insulin fresh, and he needed electricity for a respirator. He was afraid to take his wife and daughter to safety because they had panic attacks in large crowds, he said.
His eyes rose.
"I'm not worried about myself," he said. "I'm worried about them."
Some communities in North Carolina remain largely deserted, including Atlantic Beach. The Pacific Superstore sporting goods store was severely damaged and no one was in sight for cleaning. Shop windows had been broken, leaving tiny cubes of glass scattered in the parking lot. An inflatable paddling pool still attached to the ceiling hung from the window frame.
Near Pine Knoll Shores, Tim Bowers-Young walked a flooded street. He had defied a mandatory evacuation order.
"I'm not supposed to be walking in the street," he said. "I think I'm breaking the law."
John Hendren, 73, leads his horses to safety Sunday after members of the US Coast Guard helped cut down a fallen tree trapping horses in a flooded field in northern Lumberton (Jabin Botsford / The Washington Post ).
Resident Bill Stanley, who had not left home since Wednesday, grabbed his scissors and started cutting branches. Residential neighborhoods look like an inverted forest of broken trunks and roots. Some of Stanley's favorite trees are gone, including the one he planted after his first Christmas at home. This tree is now supported at a 45 degree angle.
Stanley said that he was not sure of the day. He looked at his watch and decided that it was Sunday.
He said that he was directing his refrigerator and freezer on a generator, plugging them in four hours at a time.
"I spend the fuel wisely, and it's hard to get for a while," he said.
In Florence County, S.C., Renee Matthews, 48, inspected her family's property along the Lynches River on Sunday. The river had increased more than five feet over the weekend. She is provided with water and food and has a motor boat in case of emergency. Her mother is sick and her father is fragile, and she needs to know when it's time to get them out.
"This type of rain here is what floods this area," said Matthews, noting the regular rainfall. "Next week it will be our problem. This river will continue to rise. "
The people of Wilmington face island life. There is virtually no way to get in or out of the city. Interstate 40, the largest highway leading here, is flooded in many places.
Power remains almost everywhere. The companies are closed. Unoccupied residents in cars in long lines at a few gas stations.
At 10:09 on Sunday, the Cape Fear Public Administration a desperate plea for fuel, saying that within 48 hours it could run out and would no longer be able to provide drinking water to the public.
"It is with the heavy heart that we share this information with our customers, however, we want to give you as much notice as possible," said the utility on its website. "Please, start developing emergency plans for yourself and your family. The time has come to start filling tubs and water cans to prevent water loss. "
But three hours later, the situation became less and less worrying as the public service posted a new notice that it had found a reliable source of fuel for the duration of the recovery.
A member of the North Carolina Task Force's Urban Search and Rescue Team is walking through a flooded neighborhood in search of residents who tried to sit down Sunday in Fayetteville, North Carolina. (David Goldman / AP)
Officials from the new Hanover County and the City of Wilmington on Sunday asked the governor's office to add law enforcement officers, including the National Guard. Police arrested looters during the night.
Flood waters are dirty and can become dirtier, depending on ponds and other environmental hazards. Sunday at noon, 28 utilities had issued boiling water orders, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
"If you can avoid contact with floodwater, do it," said Reggie Cheatham, director of EPA's Office of Emergency Management. Officials up to now are "pretty confident," said Cheatham, that the farmers have adequately prepared themselves before the storm to prevent the ponds from overflowing.
Cassie Gavin, an expert at Sierra Club, said it was too early to assess what was happening with pig farms and their waste lagoons. "In the 1990s, North Carolina went from 2 million to 10 million pigs virtually overnight, with little regulation in place," said Gavin.
Studies have shown that some rivers in eastern North Carolina that have industrial farms in watersheds contain high levels of fecal bacteria and nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus, Gavin added.
Another danger to the environment comes from coal ash. Environmentalists, Duke Energy and state officials are closely monitoring developments at L.V. Sutton Steam Plant in Wilmington, where heavy rain from Florence damaged a coal dump, eroding part of the wall that surrounds it.
EPA officials say about 2,000 cubic yards of materials, two-thirds of an Olympic-sized pool, collapsed in a ditch leading to an on-site pond used for cooling the water. . Dozens of people from Duke Energy and a contractor braved the weather with heavy equipment on Sunday to build earthen berms to divert the coal-polluted ditch waters and prevent them from entering the cooling water basin.
The cooling water basin is separated from Sutton Lake by a narrow berm and the Cape Fear River is located nearby.
On Sunday, Duke Energy, the operator and owner of the facility, downplayed the environmental threat. The situation arises in the context of a regulatory change in the Trump administration that has extended the life of some existing coal basins from April 2019 to October 2020. This change will allow the company to continue to operate. industry to save between $ 28 and $ 31 million a year, said the EPA.
The EPA considers coal ash as a toxic substance, and Physicians for Social Responsibility states that they generally contain heavy metals such as arsenic, lead, mercury, cadmium, and selenium. .
Duke Energy owns 31 coal ponds in North Carolina and four others in South Carolina. Paige Sheehan, a spokeswoman for Duke, said that "coal ash is not dangerous. The company does not believe that this incident poses a risk to public health or the environment. "
Sullivan reported from Wilmington, N.C. Mufson and Achenbach reported from Washington. Kristine Phillips in Florence County, S.C., Sarah Kaplan in Lumberton, North Carolina, Kirk Ross in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and Jason Samenow, Felicia Sonmez and Katie Zezima in Washington contributed to this report.
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