Iran Press/America: Since the storm made landfall as a hurricane in North Carolina on Friday morning, it has been blamed for 16 deaths.
Officials said at least 17 people have died in both states. The death toll included a person killed Sunday in a pickup truck crash near Gilbert, South Carolina, that occurred when the motorist drove through standing water on a roadway, according to the South Carolina Department of Public Safety,Associated Press reports.
Hundreds of people have been rescued by local authorities, Cajun Navy volunteers and the U.S. Coast Guard since Friday morning.
New evacuation orders were issued Sunday for a mile-long area along the Cape Fear and Little rivers in North Carolina. More than 700,000 households and businesses in the state were still without power as of Sunday afternoon, an estimated 15,000 people were in shelters, and 171 primary roads were closed including parts of two interstates, authorities said.
The state Highway Patrol advised people to stay off the roads, saying troopers responded to 48 collisions from Saturday night and into Sunday morning.
Adding to the threat of further flooding, a tornado watch was in effect for most of Sunday for the areas of Wilmington, Fayetteville, Myrtle Beach, Jacksonville, Oak Island, and Florence.
Catastrophic flooding unfolded Sunday morning in parts of North Carolina, exceeding flooding 19 years ago in Hurricane Floyd. the National Weather Service said.
One waterway, the Cape Fear River, rose 15 feet in just 24 hours from early Saturday to early Sunday. It reached flood stage in Fayetteville, North Carolina, where mandatory evacuation orders were issued Saturday.
Florence is now the third storm to set a tropical cyclone state rainfall record in just the last 12 months. Harvey dropped 60.58 inches of rain last year in Texas, setting the state’s new record. Lane just last month dropped 52.02 inches of rain in parts of Hawaii, breaking the state record. The 30.59 inches that have fallen in Swansboro sets a new record for North Carolina.
Florence also currently stands as the sixth-highest tropical cyclone rainfall total across the U.S. for records dating back to 1950.
Florence is still moving very slowly inland. The track shows Florence moving west through Sunday, and then gradually turning north by Monday. Florence will likely become a remnant low within 36 hours.
Even though Florence is weakening, it will still bring significant rainfall inland to the Appalachians before moving toward the Northeast on Tuesday. Totals could exceed 4 inches locally for inland New York and Massachusetts.
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