[ad_1]
WILMINGTON, N.-C. – Remnants of Hurricane Florence threatened further destruction on Tuesday as swollen rivers grew higher in the Carolinas and flash floods were issued for northeastern cities, including Washington, New York and New York. Boston.
Across the Carolinas, locals faced the aftermath of the storm that flooded the region with record rainfall, damaged tens of thousands of homes and dumped water that may not be backing up for days.
In Wilmington, one of North Carolina's most populous cities, residents gathered on Tuesday to look for free food, water and tarpaulins, as the city was effectively cut off by floods. Authorities in North and South Carolina saved more people by air and water. Curfews were in effect and thousands of people were still not home without knowing for sure when they could return.
"These next 48 hours will be critical, to ensure that as these rivers rise, we continue to focus on saving lives," North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper said on Tuesday.
The granite-colored clouds largely gave way to blue skies on Monday, and splashing winds and snapping rains were replaced by a different soundtrack: the helicopters that roared and hovered over Wilmington; leaf blowers and chainsaws that cleaned Charlotte; and the gentle swirl of the ever-rising Cape Fear River, which threatened Fayetteville as she sank under the bridge on Person Street.
The storm's idle seat has been blamed on at least 34 dead and authorities fear more deaths as floodwaters fill more streets and houses. The sun, they warned, did not put an end to the danger, and the counties of the Pee Dee area in northeastern South Carolina were preparing to sail to them.
"We encourage people to not go through any water plan because that's what makes people hurt and killed," said Scott Dean, who heads a reconnaissance mission in Miami County. Caroline from the south. ahead of the expected floods.
Dean's federal government team was already busy locating an older man who could not swim in Latta, SC, at sunrise on Monday. The man in striped shirt stood on the roof of his car, clutching a tree branch as water rushed to his feet.
Mr. Dean's squadron sent a boat and the crew threw a lifejacket around the man as the water began to cover the roof.
"He was incredulous about what was happening," Dean said, adding that the man was not asking for help when they spotted him despite his imminent danger.
[[[[The tropical depression Florence: how to help?]
The rescue in Latta – and countless others by government relief teams and volunteer forces – may have spared an additional number of deaths. At least 26 people were killed in North Carolina, including a 1-year-old Kaiden Lee Welch, who was pulled by water from his mother's arms on a flooded road near Charlotte Sunday night.
Authorities recovered his body, stuck between a car and a tree, Monday morning.
Two deaths were linked to the storm in Virginia, including an employee who was killed when a tornado dropped the warehouse roof of a flooring company in Midlothian, about 20 km south of Toronto. west of Richmond. On Tuesday, a man died in Louisa County when his van was submerged in water.
As more and more risks loomed, the authorities rushed to cope with the aftermath of a storm that swept the region and unleashed days of danger in each county.
Wilmington, a town of about 119,000, has faced some of North Carolina's most serious problems. Roads connecting the city to the inland have been blocked by floods and debris. The airport and the shipping port have also been closed.
Two helicopter flights were used to carry medical supplies; Food and water arrived on 20 trucks from Fort Bragg.
[[[[Readers who have lived through other major hurricanes share tips for life after Florence.]
Residents were only beginning to deal with days of trauma and emotions. Sodden and disheveled, 55-year-old Brian Scandalito was released Monday from the Wilmington storage shed where he said he was out of the storm on Thursday night and until Friday. He had moved into the buildings 10 to 10 hours before the storm after a maintenance technician evicted him from his tent behind a nearby mall.
He survived on a packaged ham and a bag of tortillas. He filled a bottle of tap water from a gas station. Late in the morning on Monday morning, he was coming down a partly flooded road, in front of fallen pines, hoping to go to a shelter. He was suspicious of leaving the hangar and he had only his only possession: a radio transmitter that blew stormy bulletins.
"I think I would like to move to Montana," he said.
Problems also abounded beyond the limits of the city.
Mayor Daniel Hilburn of Lake Waccamaw, a town of about 1,500 located west of Wilmington, was urgently looking for air conditioners in a retirement home of 101 residents and a health center. assisted living of 65 residents. With the rain rising, he said, it was "hot".
"It's a steam bath," he said.
He said the facilities, which have generators, should be evacuated if the air conditioners did not arrive soon.
And regulators said a nuclear power plant 30 miles south of Wilmington had become temporarily inaccessible due to flooding, prompting plant operator, Duke Energy, to declare a "unusual event". the lowest urgency followed by the Federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission. (The authorities stated that there were no immediate safety concerns in the two reactors of the plant, which Duke closed before the storm and that no flooding was reported on the site itself.)
In parts of the Wilmington area, life seemed strangely ordinary. A Burger King restaurant was open at Monkey Junction, an unincorporated part of New Hanover County, and Tony Harker was idling in a pickup truck, attracted by the smell of fast food while traveling to the plumbing of his home. stepmother.
Despite the region's sudden isolation, he said he was not alarmed.
First of all, he said, he did not need to leave the area. Secondly, "everything will return to normal very soon".
Perhaps In many places, however, the normal seemed slow to come.
[[[[Florence in pictures: Our photographers document the storm here.]
In Spring Lake, a small town northwest of Fayetteville, nearly 20 people were rescued Monday, most from an apartment complex suddenly blocked by an unprecedented flooding of the Little River.
In Lumberton, south of Fayetteville, other rescues have been reported along the Lumber River. Ponds and streams that had been harmless after Hurricane Matthew in 2016 filled subdivisions and made some small island communities.
Further down in Dillon, S.C., dozens of people had to be saved overnight, as the waters increased in small towns and rural areas. "There have been rescues in high waters and there will probably be others," Pastor Ron Taylor, a pastor in Dillon, said. "Many displaced people right now"
And in Fayetteville, North Carolina, the seat of a county where thousands of residents were deprived of electricity, people crammed into open restaurants, sitting in outdoor cafes and gathered on a bridge, observing the ascent of Cape Fear.
At its highest expected level, it would run out of banks and could damage hundreds of homes and businesses. It could reach about 58 feet, the same height as after Hurricane Matthew, and stay essentially in its shores.
"Now that the storm is gone and the sun is out, some people do not really understand the impact of the floods," said Mayor Mitch Colvin. "It's the dangerous part."
There was no way to know except to wait. The river was to join early Wednesday.
"I've spent my entire life in Fayetteville," said 45-year-old Dedric Higginbottom, who was an observer on the Person Street Bridge River. "It's only the second time I've seen it so high."
Chris Dixon of Conway, South Carolina, Sheri Fink of Elizabeth City, NC, Jack Healy and Campbell Robertson of Fayetteville, NC Melissa Gomez, Amy Harmon, Christine Hauser and Matthew Haag and Hiroko Tabuchi of New York.
Source link
