The Latest: The Soldier's House Was Stolen During Hurricane Work

RALEIGH, N.C. – The Latest on Hurricane Florence suites (local time):

4:10 p.m.

A North Carolina soldier returned home after helping fight Hurricane Florence to find his stolen home.

Several media reported that National Guard Luis Ocampo was working in the city of New Bern for 10 days and found his Charlotte home ransacked on his return Friday.

Ocampo said that he had discovered that everything of value had been stolen, including a large television, a game system and a laptop on which Ocampo was working. He said the food was also stolen from his refrigerator.

Ocampo said his girlfriend and son were living with their family, but they checked the house on Thursday night. The next morning, his place had been sacked.

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg police confirmed that she was investigating.

A GoFundMe page for Ocampo had raised nearly $ 15,000 in one day.

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3:40 p.m.

North Carolina officials said they have identified three safe alternate routes that motorists can use to access the city of Wilmington, which has been virtually cut off by the floods of Hurricane Florence.

The CN Department of Transportation recommends these routes: from the south, take the US 17; From the north, take Interstate 40 East to the northeast 24 East (Exit 373), then to the South of the United States; and from Fayetteville, take N.C. 87 to U.S. 701 south to N.C. 211 east to U.S. 74 East.

Transportation officials say motorists can also use Interstate 40 at Exit 373 and N.C. 24 to reach Jacksonville.

Public servants always recommend that people avoid unnecessary travel in hard-hit counties, where the risk of flooding remains. These counties include: Bladen, Brunswick, Columbus, Duplin, Jones, Lenoir, Pender, Robeson, Sampson, Scotland and southeastern Wayne County.

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2:25 p.m.

A mayor from South Carolina said Florence's damage to his city was responsible for the devastation caused by Hurricane Matthew, who dumped 30 centimeters of rain on the area two years ago.

Mayor Lawson Battle said on Saturday that Nichols is completely inundated with water. He describes the situation as "worse than Matthew". Nichols is about 65 kilometers from the coast.

The battle indicates that Governor Henry McMaster was scheduled to arrive in the city later on Saturday to assess the situation. He hoped that this visit would provoke serious discussions on the need to quickly get federal and state funds to the region to help it rebuild.

The small farming community lost nearly 90% of its 261 homes in 2016 when Matthew hit. According to Battle, the floods in Florence destroyed about 150 houses rebuilt after.

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1:40 p.m.

An economic research firm estimates that Hurricane Florence caused damage and a loss of production of about 44 billion dollars.

According to Moody's Analytics, the storm would be at the height of the California earthquake in 1994, which cost $ 45.2 billion in current dollars.

Moody's estimates that Florence caused $ 40 billion in damages and $ 4 billion in economic losses. The company pointed out that the estimate is preliminary and could go higher or lower.

If that figure is correct, Moody's said Florence would be among the top ten most expensive hurricanes.

Hurricane Katrina, in 2005, cost $ 192.2 billion in dollars today, while Hurricane Harvey last year cost $ 133.5 billion.

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12:45

The water from the Waccamaw River began flowing into a Santee Cooper Ash Pond in Conway, South Carolina.

The company said that the overflow of the Grainger No. 1 Ash Pool had occurred around 9 am Saturday along the wall of the dyke inlet channel.

Company spokeswoman Mollie Gore said no significant environmental impact is currently expected as they have already searched most of the ashes in the pond. This effort began in 2014 and was on track to be completed in the two onsite ash ponds in a few months. It is estimated that 200,000 tonnes (181,437 metric tonnes) remain in Ash Pool No. 2 in a farthest corner of the river.

Gore says the site's second pond benefits from extra protection against the rising river, thanks to an AquaDam, a silt fence and a floating environmental containment dam set up last week.

The river's forecast predicts that Waccamaw will reach a new historical flood level as a result of Hurricane Florence, eclipsing that set by Hurricane Matthew in 2016.

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12:32

Environmental officials in North Carolina say they are monitoring two sites where Florence waters have flooded coal ash sites.

Michael Regan is secretary of the State Department of Environmental Quality. He said at a press briefing on Saturday that the state was using drones to obtain photos and videos of the site of a dam breach at L.V. Sutton Power Station in Wilmington and H. F. Lee Power near Goldsboro.

Regan said the video and photos show sand and "potential coal ash" leaving the Sutton site. He said that when feasible, the DEQ plans to put people on the ground to check "the amount of potential coal ash that could have left and entered these flood waters".

Gray mud is spreading in the Cape Fear River near the site.

Regan said that at the H. F. Lee plant, DEQ employees found that the coal ash had left the pond and entered the floodwaters. He said that the DEQ was trying to determine how much, if any, had entered the Neuse.

Environmentalists are concerned because the ashes left over from burning coal to produce electricity contain mercury, lead, arsenic and other toxic heavy metals.

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11:50

North Carolina emergency officials say residents whose homes were damaged or destroyed by Hurricane Florence will begin moving into hotel rooms next week as a transitional housing program begins.

Emergency management director Michael Sprayberry told a press conference on Saturday that residents registering with the Federal Emergency Management Agency will begin the process on Monday.

The program will be available to residents in nine counties and will then be expanded to other counties.

Sprayberry said counties in the eastern state continued to experience severe flooding, including at places along the Black, Lumber, Neuse and Cape Fear rivers.

A FEMA coordinator said that about 69,000 people in North Carolina were already registered with FEMA for help.

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11:15

The governor of North Carolina said the "dangerous" floods were still threatening the state more than a week after Hurricane Florence landfilled.

Governor Roy Cooper said Saturday that nine of the state's river gauges are at a major flood stage and four more are in a moderate flood phase. He urged residents of southeastern North Carolina to remain alert for flood warnings and evacuation orders.

Cooper said the floods continue to make trips dangerous in hard-hit areas. He urged people to avoid driving east from Interstate 95 and south to US-70.

Cooper said some areas of Interstates 95 and 40 are still underwater. Emergency managers do not expect the water on these highways to drop completely for a week or more.

At least 43 people have died since the hurricane struck the coast more than a week ago.

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10:50

According to forecasters, Tropical Storm Kirk has formed in the East Atlantic and is moving rapidly westward.

In an 11-hour update, the National Hurricane Center said Kirk was 724 kilometers south of the Cabo Verde Islands, moving west at 14 mph (22.5 km / h) with winds maximums blowing near 64 mph. Tropical storm force winds extend from the center up to 56 kilometers northwest.

Forecasters say it currently represents no threat to the land.

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12:03

A North Carolina city flooded with river water after a breakwater is one of the last cities to experience the deadly threat of Hurricane Florence.

Benetta White and David Lloyd slipped through the water up to the waist to escape when the water from the Cape Fear River spilled into their yard on Thursday night. They entered the van of a friend and were eventually driven into a military vehicle.

They were part of a hundred evacuees with helicopters, boats and wheeled military vehicles during a six-hour rescue operation in Bladen County, southeast Carolina. North, Friday morning.

Authorities in North Carolina and South Carolina warn that the danger of flooding is far from over, as South Carolina orders evacuations there as rivers rise. At least 43 people have died since the hurricane struck the coast more than a week ago.