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Like many in North Carolina, this mother and daughter discovered that despite the fact that Florence's worst was over, this was not the case.
USA TODAY & # 39; HUI
Mackenna Munson, 21, attempts to rejoin her flooded car on Rankin Street, in Wilmington, North Carolina, on Sunday, Sept. 16, 2018. Her family survived Hurricane Florence and weathered the storm without electricity. their street was flooded with cars in the water.(Photo: Jack Gruber, USA TODAY & # 39; HUI)
Rivers approached the record flood stage and more than 660,000 utility customers were without electricity Sunday as North Carolina struggled under the fury of Florence, the mighty hurricane dwindled into a tropical depression.
The death toll in Florence rose to 15 Sunday after a truck lost control over a flooded road in South Carolina.
Florence stagnated over the Carolinas and it was expected to dump up to 10 inches more rain in some areas, said the National Hurricane Center. Parts of southeastern North Carolina could see up to 40 inches before the rain ends later in the week. And the damage is not limited to the coast.
"These amounts of rain will produce catastrophic floods, prolonged floods and a high risk of landslides in western North Carolina and the extreme southwestern Virginia," warned the center. .
Some places will see more than 30 inches of rain before the storm is over later in the week, said National Meteorological Meteorologist Bob Oravec. Swansboro, NC was already flooded with 34 inches of rain Sunday afternoon.
"It's historic in terms of the amount of rain a storm has in North Carolina," Oravec said.
More: Swansboro, North Carolina, had 34 inches of rain – and it's still raining
More: Florence: Here's how you can help
More: Florence: the mayor tells thousands to evacuate or prevent
The mayor of Swansboro, a tourist town of about 3,000 people, nicknamed the "friendly city by the sea," said the city had broken a state record for rain. A few houses were damaged and some businesses near the water suffered minor floods, said John Davis. The winds were also a problem at first.
"In our historic district, 10 roofs broke off like the top of the cans," he said. "But given the strength of the storm and the time it has passed, we did very well."
Sections of two highways I-40 and I-95 were closed due to floods and debris. Several rivers were approaching record levels, and authorities warned that the ridge in some areas would only occur later in the week.
In New Bern, hundreds of people have been saved from their flooded homes. Hurricane Florence's anger spread across Patty and Philip Urick's home on the Neuse River, which was destroyed by heavy floods.
Dozens of neighbors have faced similar damage after the waters approached the top of their doors. As water and debris accumulated, the entrance gates collapsed and garage doors were torn, sending water into homes and taking away what was going on. was inside.
"We thought we were safe here on the second floor," said 82-year-old Philip Urick. "We also assumed that the storm was not going to be as bad as it was."
Florence was weakened by a tropical depression, but images of submerged houses and vehicles show how strong the storm has been.
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Evacuations were still in progress in some places. Fayetteville Mayor Mitch Colvin told people living less than two kilometers from the area's main river, Cape Fear, or the nearby small river, that they should go out. The Cape Fear River is expected to settle in Fayetteville on Tuesday morning and remain in a major flood phase on Wednesday, Oravec said. Even at the end of the week, the city may experience mild flooding.
On early Sunday, the storm was concentrated 20 miles southwest of Columbia, S.C., with 35 mph winds. Florence was moving west at 8 mph.
The heaviest rains fell on the northern edge of the storm, so North Carolina experienced the worst. But South Carolina was not totally spared: Myrtle Beach was hit by more than 7 inches of rain. And nearly 60,000 utility customers were without electricity in the northern part of the state.
The South Carolina National Guards and DOT workers worked in pouring rain Sunday to fill the giant sandbags with dirt and place them on a 1.5 mile road on the US 501 bypass bridge at above the Waccamaw River. The massive project started on Saturday and should end on Monday.
The rivers of South Carolina could begin Monday in the evening of Tuesday, officials said. First Sgt. Darrell Hudson said that the use of gates was working elsewhere.
"We sent a team to Vermont with Sandy when they had a very bad flood there," he said.
Contributors: Tim Smith, The Greenville (S.C.) News; Sean Rossman, USA TODAY & # 39; HUI; Joel Burgess, Asheville Citizen Times; The Associated Press
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