About 10,000 remained in shelters, the department said. Cooper said more than 1,100 roads remained closed Tuesday, including Interstates 95 and 40 and other major routes. There are detours available for local traffic.
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“A storm and responding to it the right way can make or break a political career”, said Gary Lackmann, a professor of atmospheric science at North Carolina State University.
The detainees were women being transported from Waccamaw Mental Health and Loris Hospital to a behavioural health hospital in Darlington, South Carolina, according to the Associated Press. Two of the SC victims were mental health patients who drowned on Tuesday when a van carrying them was swept away by floodwater.
President Trump will visit North Carolina on Wednesday to view areas affected by the storm, and Bender said said the president “absolutely” needs to visit Pollocksville and other small towns.
“I’m just ready for this to be over, to be honest”, said Evan Jones, a college student who evacuated from Wilmington, N.C., who doesn’t know when he will get back. In his words: “I’m trying to get it all out of my head”.
“We can attribute that additional rainfall to human-induced climate change”, said Kevin Reed, a professor at Stony Brook University’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, who contributed to the study. Cooper pleaded for patience, warning North Carolinians that heading onto the roads could pose intense dangers.
North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper said 16 rivers were at major flood stage Tuesday with three more expected to peak by Thursday.
Aerial view of farms flooded after the passing of Hurricane Florence in eastern North Carolina on September 17, 2018.
President Donald Trump met with first responders in Conway, South Carolina on Wednesday and warned them of the danger of rising rivers.
Trump, who has been criticized for his handling of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico past year, also thanked first responders for their work since Florence made landfall on Friday and recapped the efforts to get food to residents and restore power.
“Now it looks nice, but it’s really the calm before the storm”, Trump said. “I’m still hopeful”, said Lynn about his home which now has water up to the front step.
“There is going to be both more inland flooding and more storm-surge, ocean-related flooding because the ocean is getting higher”, said Brion Callori, senior vice president of engineering and research at commercial property insurance firm FM Global.
The deaths of at least 36 people have been attributed to the storm, including 27 in North Carolina, eight in SC and one in Virginia. North Carolina is one of the nation’s biggest livestock producers, ranking second in hog production; the state has more than 2,000 permitted swine farms and 9.3 million pigs.
The Department of Defense has assigned approximately 13,000 personnel to support the recovery, including some 6,000 active-duty personnel and more than 7,000 National Guardsmen.
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Utility crews from multiple states worked to restore power, and outages were down from a high of more than 900,000 to about 320,000 homes and businesses, almost all in North Carolina.
