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Floodwaters
inundate
a church
after
Hurricane
Florence
struck
the
Carolinas
Monday,
Sept.
17,
2018, in
Conway,
S.C.
(Photo:
Sean
Rayford,
AP) |
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‘Nightmare
that
won’t
end’:
Storm
evacuees
can’t
return
yet
By
CHUCK
BURTON
and
MARTHA
WAGGONER
APNews.com
WILMINGTON,
N.C. -
Hundreds
of
people
waited
in long
lines
for
water
and
other
essentials
Tuesday
in
Wilmington,
still
mostly
cut off
by high
water
days
after
Hurricane
Florence
unleashed
epic
floods,
and
North
Carolina’s
governor
pleaded
with
more
than
10,000
evacuees
around
the
state
not to
return
home
yet.
The
death
toll
rose to
at least
34 in
three
states,
with 26
fatalities
in North
Carolina,
as
Florence’s
remnants
went in
two
directions:
Water
flowed
downstream
toward
the
Carolina
coast,
and
storms
moved
through
the
Northeast,
where
flash
floods
hit New
Hampshire
and New
York
state .
North
Carolina
Gov. Roy
Cooper
warned
that the
flooding
set off
by as
much as
3 feet
of rain
from
Florence
is far
from
over and
will get
worse in
places.
“I
know for
many
people
this
feels
like a
nightmare
that
just
won’t
end,” he
said.
Addressing
roughly
10,000
people
who
remain
in
shelters
and
“countless
more”
staying
elsewhere,
Cooper
urged
residents
to stay
put for
now,
particularly
those
from the
hardest-hit
coastal
counties
that
include
Wilmington,
near
where
Florence
blew
ashore
on
Friday.
Russell
Maloy
walks
over a
railway
bridge
near his
home to
check
the
level of
the Cape
Fear
River
which
has been
rising
in the
aftermath
of
Hurricane
Florence
in
Fayetteville,
N.C.,
Tuesday,
Sept.
18,
2018.
(Photo:
David
Goldman,
AP)
Roads
remain
treacherous,
he said,
and some
are
still
being
closed
for the
first
time as
rivers
swelled
by
torrential
rains
inland
drain
toward
the
Atlantic.
“I
know it
was hard
to leave
home,
and it
is even
harder
to wait
and
wonder
whether
you even
have a
home to
go back
to,”
Cooper
said.
In
Wilmington,
population
120,000,
workers
began
handing
out
supplies
using a
system
that
resembled
a giant
fast-food
drive-thru:
Drivers
pulled
up to a
line of
pallets,
placed
an order
and left
without
having
to get
out. A
woman
blew a
whistle
each
time
drivers
were
supposed
to pull
forward.
Todd
Tremain
needed
tarps to
cover up
spots
where
Florence’s
winds
ripped
shingles
off his
roof.
“The
roof is
leaking,
messing
up the
inside
of the
house,”
he said.
Catherine
Riggs
and her
family
were
rescued
by the
Coast
Guard.
Others
got a
case of
bottled
water or
military
MREs, or
field
rations.
An
olive-drab
military
forklift
moved
around
huge
pallets
loaded
with
supplies.
Brandon
Echavarrieta
struggled
to stay
composed
as he
described
life
post-Florence:
no power
for
days,
rotted
meat in
the
freezer,
no water
or food
and just
one bath
in a
week.
“It’s
been
pretty
bad,”
said
Echavarrieta,
34, his
voice
breaking.
Nearby,
about
200
people
lined up
to buy
40-pound
bags of
ice as
quickly
as a
Rose Ice
and Coal
Co.
could
produce
it.
Supplies
have
been
brought
into the
city by
big
military
trucks
and
helicopters,
which
also
have
been
used to
pluck
hundreds
of
desperate
people
from
atop
homes
and
other
structures.
Mayor
Bill
Saffo
said two
routes
were now
open
into
Wilmington,
which
had been
completely
cut off
by
floodwaters,
but
those
roads
could
close
again as
water
swells
the Cape
Fear
River on
the
city’s
west
side.
“We
still
are
encouraging
or
asking
folks
not to
come
home,”
said
Woody
White,
chairman
of the
New
Hanover
County
commissioners.
“We want
you
here. We
love
you. We
miss
you. But
access
to
Wilmington
is still
very
limited
and is
not
improving
as
quickly
as we
would
like.”
Lumberton
remained
badly
flooded.
At
Fayetteville,
about
100
miles
(161
kilometers)
inland,
near the
Army’s
sprawling
Fort
Bragg,
the Cape
Fear
River
had
risen
about 50
feet (15
meters)
toward a
crest
that was
predicted
to be
more
than 25
feet
above
flood
level.
On
Tuesday,
logs and
other
debris
became
trapped
under a
rail
bridge
as
rushing
brown
water
pushed
against
the
span.
The
river
swallowed
trees,
lamp
posts
and a
parking
lot near
its
banks.
City
officials
warned
that
still-rising
water
threatened
some
neighborhoods
and
businesses
that
seemed
safe,
but said
the
worst
was
nearly
over and
life was
beginning
to
return
to
normal
downtown.
Businesses
were
re-opening
and
owners
were
removing
sandbags
and
plywood
from
storefronts.
Human
and
animal
waste is
mixing
with the
swirling
floodwaters,
which
have
killed
about
1.7
million
chickens
on
poultry
farms.
More
than 5
million
gallons
of
partially
treated
sewage
spilled
into the
Cape
Fear
River
after
power
went out
at a
treatment
plant,
officials
said,
and the
earthen
dam of a
pond
holding
hog
waste
was
breached,
spilling
its
contents.
A dozen
more
such
pits,
which
contain
animal
feces
and
urine,
were
damaged.
The
governor
said 16
rivers
statewide
were at
major
flood
stage
and more
than
1,100
roads
were
closed.
Emergency
workers
reported
rescuing
and
evacuating
more
than
2,200
people
and
around
575
animals,
he said.
In a
bright
spot,
the
Lumber
River
appeared
to be
falling
in
hard-hit
Lumberton,
about 70
miles
(113
kilometers)
inland.
Power
outages
in the
Southeast
also
were
down,
from a
high of
more
than
910,000
to about
310,000,
nearly
all in
North
Carolina.
The
White
House
said
President
Donald
Trump
will
visit
North
Carolina
on
Wednesday
to see
the
damage.
Earlier,
he
boasted
on
Twitter:
“Right
now,
everybody
is
saying
what a
great
job we
are
doing
with
Hurricane
Florence
— and
they are
100%
correct.”
He
warned
that the
Democrats
will
soon
start
criticizing
the
government
response,
and
“this
will be
a total
lie, but
that’s
what
they do,
and
everybody
knows
it!”
The
dead
include
a
1-year-old
boy who
was
swept
away
after
his
mother
drove
into
floodwaters
and lost
her grip
on him.
Authorities
in
Virginia
said a
man was
killed
Tuesday
when his
pickup
truck
was
caught
in a
flash
flood.
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