Hurricane Florence walks through the Carolinas, submerging houses, with rainy days in store

"The only difference is that at the time, it was within 14 days," he said. With Florence, "we see the same amount of rain in three days".

Friday morning, Florence already had:

• Emergency officials reported that energy was available to more than 500,000 customers in North Carolina and South Carolina.

• Forced 26,000 people in more than 200 emergency shelters across the Carolinas.

• Forced more than 60 people to evacuate a hotel in Jacksonville, North Carolina, after part of the roof collapsed, city officials said.

• guest 4,000 soldiers of the National Guard and 40,000 electrical workers to mobilize in response.

Latest developments

• Location of Florence: Around 11am Friday, the center of Florence was about 20 miles southwest of Wilmington and crawled at 3 mph, with maximum sustained winds of 80 mph.

• Endangered areas: A hurricane warning is in place for the South Santee River in South Carolina bound for Bogue Inlet, North Carolina, and Pamlico Sound. Surges of 10 feet were reported Friday morning in Morehead City and elsewhere in North Carolina, said the National Weather Service.

• Record bursts: The Wilmington airport recorded a 105-mph gust on Friday morning – the fastest measured since Hurricane Helene hit 1958, NHC reported.

• Thanks from Trump: President Trump tweets his thanks to the first speakers on Friday morning. "Incredible work is done by FEMA, first responders, law enforcement and all, thank you!" he tweeted.

Rescues and narrow escapes

Florence's circulation was pushing water, especially north of her eye, into coastal or riparian towns such as New Bern and Belhaven, turning the land into lakes.

In New Bern, where dozens of people were waiting for their rescue on Friday morning, Peggy Perry said the rising water forced her to flee to the upper level of her house.

"In a few seconds, my house has been flooded to the waist, and now it's on the chest," said Perry, who, along with three members of his family, was trapped early Friday. "We are stuck in the attic."

Whitewater rescue teams from outside the state helped local rescuers evacuate people whenever conditions allowed. A Maryland team contributed about 40 rescues to New Bern from Thursday, said Mitchell Rusland.

Craven County, where New Bern is located, has recorded more than 100 calls for service from residents stranded on their roofs or in their cars, county spokeswoman Amber Parker said Friday.

In Belhaven, the Pungo River hit the city, crashed against houses at height height and higher on Thursday and early Friday, Amy Johnson 's video showed.

Rebecca Marson, a resident of Morehead City, decided not to evacuate because her surgeon husband wanted to stay with the other first responders. They return home with four children aged 11 to 17, Marson's friend, four dogs, two chinchillas, a cat and a lizard.

Marson said that they had lost power and that the winds were screaming outside, but that they had enough food and water to last for days.

Employees of WCTI television in New Bern fled their studio on Thursday night due to the rising waters. Images posted on social networks showed a meteorologist saying that it was necessary to evacuate. He leaves the studio and lets a radar of the rain bands of Florence play in a loop.

Authorities in several states have declared the state of emergency, including in the Carolinas, Georgia, Virginia and Maryland, where coastal areas are still recovering from summer storms.

Florence is one of four named storms in the Atlantic.