Florence death toll rises to 14 in Carolinas

Sept. 15 (UPI) — One day after Hurricane Florence slammed into North Carolina, at least 14 people have died, nearly 1 million are without power and hundreds have been rescued from rising waters.

On Saturday, the first fatality was reported in South Carolina: a 61-year-old woman who was killed when her car hit a tree that fell in Union County on Friday night, WYFF-TV reported.

The other 13 deaths blamed on the storm were reported in North Carolina on Friday and Saturday.

As a tropical storm, Florence is moving at 2 mph — about as fast as someone could walk, the National Hurricane Center said in an update Saturday. The storm has moved about 100 miles since making landfall — about 4 mph on average — as a Category 1 hurricane. The storm, with maximum sustained winds of 45 mph, creeped from North Carolina to South Carolina.

On Saturday morning, President Donald Trump approved a disaster declaration for eight North Carolina counties. Federal funding can include grants for temporary housing and home repairs, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses as well as other aid both for homeowners and business owners.

“We in North Carolina have been through tough storms and this one is sure testing us,” North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said at a news conference late Saturday morning. “But now is the time for us to persevere. I have never known North Carolinians to quit in the face of a challenge and we’re not about to start.”

He warned residents to remain in place, including in the 1 million he reported Friday were in shelters.

“If you are safe, stay put. Don’t go back until this storm passes and you get the official all-clear,” he told residents Saturday.

Up to 40 inches of rain and storm surges pushing water inland will produce catastrophic flash flooding, the National Hurricane Center said. Rivers in North Carolina are predicted to crest higher than during 2016’s Hurricane Matthew in some areas, emergency officials said.

Before the storm, the U.S. Geological Survey predicted Florence would cause beach erosion along about three-quarters of the North Carolina coast.

Since Florence went ashore at 7:15 a.m. Friday, and gusts of winds in the 50 to 100 mph hour range were reported. The heavy rainfall and storm surge have been more problematic than wind speed.

The city of Swansboro had more than 30 inches, breaking the all-time record for rainfall in a tropical system in North Carolina.

On Saturday afternoon, two unidentified people were reported dead in North Carolina’s Duplin County that were “due to flash flooding and swift water on roadways, according to the county’s emergency management.

Also on Saturday, an 81-year-old man died after hitting his head while trying to evacuate in Wayne County and a husband and wife died in a stom-related house fire in Cumberland County.