Hurricane Florence updates live: the Carolinas were hit by the storm

As Hurricane Florence, which has become a tropical storm, crosses the Carolinas, our reporters and photojournalists are on the coast. Their Friday reports of the coast are here.

You can follow them to @_andrewcarter, @ joshshaffer08, @MarthaQuillin. @vizjourno, , ,

Raleigh: Interstate drivers have asked to avoid N.C.

17h State officials are asking interstate travelers not to cross North Carolina.

A section of Interstate 95 was closed earlier Saturday and Transportation Secretary Jim Trogdon said other sections may be closed before the floods end.

The number of main roads closed Saturday rose from 60 to 100 in a few hours, said Trogdon.

"It is increasingly difficult to find ways to bypass interstate traffic," he said.

All drivers should stay clear of roads in the southern US, east of the United States, and east of highways 73 and 74, Trogdon said.

– LYNN BONNER

Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill: Help is on the way

2:15 p.m. Nearly 30 firefighters from the Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill fire departments have received orders to assist with rescue operations in the coastal communities affected by Hurricane Florence. They should leave Saturday afternoon and are part of the North Carolina Task Force 8 / Urban Search and Rescue Team.

There are also 18 Raleigh firefighters who specialize in structural rescue operations that must leave Saturday night or Sunday morning. Four members of the Raleigh Fire helicopter rescue team will travel to coastal areas on Monday.

– ANNA JOHNSON

Bolivia, N.C .: "You saved my dog's life"

1:35 p.m. Friday morning, the power was released at Tabitha Floyd in Bolivia, but it did not bother him.

"As long as my dogs are fine, I'm fine," she said to her friends who called to watch her.

Then, on Saturday morning, his 7-year-old pit bull, Snoop – was never sick one day of his life – remained almost motionless on the ground.

"Her tongue and gums were pure white," she said.

By taking care of an anemic goat on her friend Louie Lewis's farm, where she was working, Floyd knew that Snoop needed vitamin B. She did not have it at home, but she knew there was some at Lewis's farm.

The problem is that by midday Saturday, the Lockwood Folly River was crossing the south-east of 211 south between his house and Lewis's farm.

Lewis, who turned 84 on Saturday, had no more than two feet of water. He drove a tractor with oversized wheels through the gap and delivered the drug into Floyd's hands. She had the air of crying.

She squeezed Lewis's neck and thanked him.

"You saved my dog's life," she told him.

"Well, let's try," he said.

– MARTHA QUILLIN

Oak Island, N.C .: Wait and watch

12:40 A 24-hour curfew is in place at Oak Island, where Steve Sanders has decided to come out of the storm. Sanders, who runs the Ocean Crest Pier on the island, said he was out Friday between the beans and that the curfew had not yet been respected to see the damage caused by the storm.

"I've seen a lot of shingles of houses and shingles, that sort of thing," Sanders said. "There was eight or ten inches of water across the road where it was low, but it is still flooded. It's about what we always see with a big storm. "

Sanders said when he saw her on Friday, the jetty looked fine, and on Saturday, he periodically checked the webcam at oceancrestpiernc.com, and everything seemed ok.

But the forecast is for continuous rain and wind until Sunday.

"Give us another 24 hours and see what it looks like," said Sanders. "That's what worries me."

On the mainland, the mercury storm continued to wave residents Saturday noon. The sky was darkening and the rain was falling so hard that the utility trucks on the road were facing near-haze conditions. Then it would clear up and the rain would decrease, but would never stop altogether.

The trees continued to fall on the highways; N.C. 211, in Brunswick County, was dotted with slashed pines, which the teams were pushing back as quickly as possible with large frontal loaders.

– MARTHA QUILLIN

Wilmington, N.C .: Finally, a grocery store

11:30 am A crowd on the edge of a crowd scene formed in Wilmington on Saturday as the first grocery store opened in four days, drawing 500 storm-soaked residents through the doors.

After two days in the dark, the city saw electricity return to a grid two blocks away on College Avenue. The victims of Hurricane Florence having access to the Internet saw the grocery store go up on Facebook. But most saw the line stretching to the side of the store and simply joined it.

As the doors opened at 10 am, Harris Teeter's employees loudly warned customers who were cringing on the door to be civilians and that the Wilmington police had nothing better to do than to transport unruly people out of the store.

– JOSH SHAFFER

New Bern, N.C .: A kitten, a picture, a flood

10 hours Both were wet. Both wore tired expressions.

A photo of Robert Simmons Jr. and his kitten went viral – a moment that seemed to show how thousands of people were feeling the storm in the area, that the waters continued to rise, threatening homes and livelihoods .

Simmons told his story on Friday as a kitten was looking down at the top of his rain jacket. Simmons had taken the animal with him on the boat. The kitten hung on Simmons, as if a newborn was hanging on to his mother, and while Simmons was talking, the kitten mooed.

"We passed by Bertha, Fran, Irene, Matthew," he said Friday afternoon, sitting in the small boat and spotting the names of hurricanes that had crossed his eastern part of North Carolina . "And it's the worst he's ever been in this part here."

Learn more about Flood, Simmons and the kitten.

– ANDREW CARTER