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The drone video shows how much water now covers this once-sprawling park of Fayetteville, North Carolina, after Florence dumped catastrophic amounts of rain.
USA TODAY & # 39; HUI
Cross Creek overflows into Festival Park and nearby roads, Fayetteville, S.C., September 17, 2018, after Florence. (Photo: Drone photo by JEREMIAH WILSON and XAVIER MASCAR / NETWORK USA TODAY 'HUI)
Although torrential rains in Florence may end in the Carolinas, the slow-down flood disaster will continue to wreak havoc in the region for days or even weeks.
According to forecasters' forecasts, it may take up to two weeks for all storm runoff, which killed at least 20 people, to flow slowly down the mountains to the coast. At noon Monday, 19 water courses in the Carolinas were at the "major" flood stage, the The National Meteorological Service stated that recording peaks could be questioned or destroyed in some communities.
Nearly 20 rivers in the Carolinas were expected in major floods this week, the Weather Channel said.
"It's not because most of the rains have stopped that danger has ended," said Monday the Wilmington, North Carolina, national weather service.
Officials warned that this could be the worst flood in the state's history. "The floods have become catastrophic in some areas, and access to some communities will only be possible by boat late in the week," said Mike Doll, Meteorologist at AccuWeather. "It's really a life-threatening situation."
Rivers such as Cape Fear, Lumber, Waccamaw and Pee Dee are the most exposed. In Lumberton, North Carolina, the Lumber River reached a record high of 22.18 feet on Monday morning.
"It's hard to do it all over again," said Bruce Mullis, a Lumberton resident, who remembers Hurricane Matthew in 2016. "It's only been two years. It's honestly traumatic.
In Fayetteville, the Cape Fear River is expected to reach 61.8 feet on Tuesday, more than 25 feet above flood level and 7 feet below all-time records. Thousands of people have been ordered to evacuate to this city as the rivers rise.
More: "There is no access to Wilmington" because North Carolina is flooded by the floods of Florence
More: The absence of flood insurance hampers the suffering of homeowners struck by Hurricane Florence
Record river floods have been reported in several towns and villages in North Carolina, including Chinquapin, Trenton and Manchester, the Weather Channel reported.
As rivers swelled, regulators and environmental groups in North Carolina monitored the threat of gigantic hog and poultry operations in low-lying, flood-prone areas.
In all, much of North Carolina and a small part of South Carolina recorded a three-day total precipitation that, on average, should occur every 1,000 years, Weather Underground reported. This means that the amount of rain has a 0.1 percent probability of occurring in a given year.
Rick Knabb, Weather Channel hurricane specialist, said the floods would spread to western North Carolina and Virginia, including potential landslides in parts of the Appalachian Mountains.
"We need everyone to be scared of floods as you would for the wind of a hurricane or a tornado," Knabb said. "The waters are rising in entire communities, if you are trapped in a flooded building go to the highest level and call 911."
The storm, which struck the region last week, will be the hottest hurricane of the year in the US: AccuWeather estimated that Florence would generate between $ 30 billion and $ 60 billion in economic spinoffs and damage.
Around 11 am Monday, the tropical depression of Florence was centered about 240 miles west of Charlottesville, Virginia, and was moving northeast at 15 mph. The Weather Channel reported that millions of people in the central Atlantic and Northeastern shorelines were still watching the floods as the residual moisture from Florence was heading north.
Although the typical peak of the hurricane season in the Atlantic has passed, the season officially lasts until the end of November.
Ten tropical storms have formed this season in the Atlantic, five of which have been hurricanes, the National Hurricane Center said.
Contribute: The Associated Press; Christal Hayes, USA TODAY & # 39; HUI
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