“Hurricane Florence is powerful, slow and relentless,” North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said Friday. “It’s an uninvited brute that doesn’t want to leave.”
State and city leaders have urged residents to shelter in place, warning of extreme flash flooding and swiftly rising waters that will likely grind across the state for days.
Wilmington Police said the father of the dead infant had been transported to New Hanover Regional Medical Center with injuries.
A third person was killed in Lenoir County while plugging in a generator, Cooper’s office said in a statement.
Despite its downgrade to Category 2, Hurricane Florence has shown little mercy, overwhelming cities like New Bern, where storm surges forced more than 100 swift-water rescues overnight.
“You may need to move up to the second story, or to your attic, but WE ARE COMING TO GET YOU,” said the official Twitter account for the city, promising that swift-water rescue teams were mobilizing.
According to the city, about 150 people were waiting to be rescued in New Bern, located where the Neuse River empties into Pamlico Sound at about the midpoint of the state’s Atlantic coast.
Dana Outlaw, the mayor of New Bern, said the storm had uprooted oak trees and scattered power lines on the street. “It’s no time to be out. We want our citizens safe.”
In the town of Washington, N.C., floodwaters swamped an intersection, making it impassable for everyone except a few with pickup trucks.
The metal roof of a warehouse across the street was shredded by the wind. A neighborhood grocery store flooded.
At a used car lot, rising waters had already swamped two cars. “I can live with two cars (being damaged),” said the owner, Steve Griffin, 48, who lives nearby in Bath. “I can’t live with many more.”
The wind picked up and small waves of water continued rolling in. Although flooding isn’t unusual in Washington, “this is higher than it’s ever been in this lot,” Griffin said.
Gregory Sams, 60, a retired security guard, left his second-floor apartment to look for a store selling cigarettes but couldn’t find any. Like everyone else, he wondered how high the water might rise.
“Your guess is as good as mine,” he said as a light rain fell.
The National Hurricane Center warned Friday that “life-threatening” flood danger could linger for days.
More flooding is expected further inland, where rivers could overflow and inundate towns across the state.
Fierce winds lashed at Wilmington, a port city near the southeastern corner of the state where many of the 120,000 residents had evacuated but some remain hunkered down to ride out the storm.
About a dozen people in the breakfast area of the Country Inn and Suites stared out the window as the wind howled and trees swayed.
The power went out at 6:45 a.m., and Alejandra Rubio, 40, clutched a paper cup full of coffee.
“I feel scared,” she said.
Outside, the sky was blank and gray, and 80 mph wind gusts tore through the trees. Debris began piling up in the streets and parking lots.
The storm was generating sustained winds of at least 90 mph as it inched ashore, traveling only 6 mph. Hurricane Florence has lost some power over the last few days — it made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane, down from its earlier rating as a Category 4 with winds of 140 mph.
But the slow speed of travel may end up increasing the storm’s danger as high winds and rainfall linger over the state.
There could be other threats as well. A tornado watch was issued until 5 p.m. Eastern on Friday, and gusts of wind could reach 75 mph, according to the National Weather Service.
Mandatory evacuations have turned large swaths of the state into boarded-up ghost towns, and government officials have urged residents to stay off the roads.
More than 12,000 people are riding out the storm in shelters.
Roughly 80,000 people have already lost power, and the number could reach closer to 3 million, according to Duke Energy, the state’s largest utility. The heaviest power outages are in the area around Wilmington and in the stretch of coastline between Emerald Isle and Pamlico Sound.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers deployed a team to the area to help restore power and protect nuclear power plants, according to a statement from the Trump administration. Nearly 4,000 federal employees are working with state and local agencies on storm response.
South Carolina was also bracing for the storm and for inland flooding that could have statewide effects. The governor implored residents to leave the coastal area as soon as possible.
“Remember this: Once these winds start blowing at that tropical storm rate, it will be virtually impossible for the rescuers to get in,” Gov. Henry McMaster said.
The region is expected to be hit hard by storm winds, persistent, heavy rain and possibly even tornadoes.
“It’s knocking on the door,” said Chase Dearman, a spokesman for the state’s emergency operations center. “Extensive high winds and storm surge is going to be an issue as well as the rainfall.”
A mandatory coastal evacuation order left highways nearly empty in Charleston, the state’s largest city.
“The safest place to be is away from the coastline,” Dearman said.
Inland in Columbia, the state’s capital, residents prepared for flooding along nearby rivers.
In Myrtle Beach to the east, residents made their way to rapidly filling shelters.
At Palmetto Bays Elementary, school staff cleaned and cooked for more than 400 — young families, elderly couples, immigrant workers — who lined up for a hot lunch in the cafeteria.
With four local hospitals evacuated, the American Red Cross had also set up a station at the school to care for those needing medical attention.
“The storm has time to regroup itself,” said a worried Dr. Bill Capehart, the agency’s shelter manager, who experienced Hurricane Matthew two years ago. “When it rains upstate, look out. They all drain into here, and the rivers rise so suddenly.”
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