Hurricane Florence: officials warn of 'epic' rainfall to come after storm kills 13

Jacob Jarvis16 September 2018

Devastated communities across the Carolinas are bracing for “epic” amounts of rainfall despite Florence being downgraded from a storm to a “tropical depression”.

The category was lowered at 5am on Sunday, local time, as it continued to sweep inland.

There have been at least 13 deaths related to the disaster, with the toll growing as authorities said two people died from inhaling carbon monoxide from a generator in their South Carolina home.

"This is still a catastrophic, life-threatening storm," said Zack Taylor, a meteorologist with the National Weather Center's Weather Prediction Centre.

"It has already dumped 20 to 30 inches of rain on parts of the Carolinas with more to come.

"And many of the rivers will see prolonged flooding, some not cresting for a few days.

"This storm is still deadly and dangerous and it's expected to turn northward later today into Virginia and the mid-Atlantic."

Hurricane Florence - In pictures

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Florence was drifting westward over South Carolina, reaching about 20 miles southeast of Columbia South Carolina, at 5am Sunday, the National Hurricane Centre said.

Up to 40 inches, 102 cm, of rain is expected along coastal areas of the Carolinas and up to 10 inches, around 25cm, in south-western Virginia.

In Fayetteville, a North Carolina city of about 210,000 people about 90 miles inland, authorities told thousands of residents near the Cape Fear River and Little River to get out of their homes.

They were advised to do so by Sunday afternoon because of the flood risk.

"If you are refusing to leave during this mandatory evacuation, you need to do things like notify your legal next of kin because the loss of life is very, very possible," Mayor Mitch Colvin said at a news conference.

"The worst is yet to come.”

Around 50 stranded people were airlifted by helicopter in North Carolina, said Petty Officer Michael Himes of the US Coast Guard, and more than 26,000 hunkered down in shelters.

About 740,000 homes and businesses remained without power in the Carolinas, and utilities said some could be out for weeks.

Winds have dropped to about 35 mph, 55 kph, since it came ashore on Friday as a hurricane.

It is crawling west over two states at six mph, nine kph, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said on Sunday.

Radar showed parts of the storm over six states.

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