US southeast braces for 'days and days' of floods from hurricane
HOLDEN BEACH, N.C. (Reuters) - The powerful Hurricane Florence threatened to bring “days and days” of rain and potentially deadly flooding to the US southeast coast, North Carolina’s governor warned on Tuesday, as some 1 million people were ordered to evacuate their homes.
The storm threatened to hit coastal North and South Carolina with 130 mile-per-hour (215 kph) winds and massive waves when it makes landfall on Friday, and its rains will take a heavy toll for miles inland, the National Hurricane Center in Miami warned.
The storm was getting bigger and better organized and is expected to continue to strengthen for the next day or so, the NHC said.
“This storm is a monster,” North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper said at a news conference on Tuesday. “It’s an extremely dangerous, life-threatening, historic hurricane ... the forecast shows Florence stalling over North Carolina, bringing days and days of rain.”
Cooper and his counterparts in neighboring South Carolina and Virginia ordered about 1 million people to evacuate coastal homes, including along the Outer Banks barrier islands. Officials in South Carolina reversed the flow of traffic on some highways so that all major roads led away from the sea to speed evacuations.
Shelters were set up in the area to take in those who could not evacuate.
The slow-moving storm, the most severe hurricane to threaten the U.S. mainland this year, was rated a Category 4 on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale and located about 845 miles (1,360 km) east-southeast of Cape Fear, North Carolina, at 1:30 p.m. EDT (1730 GMT), according to the NHC.
US President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed declarations of emergency for both North Carolina and South Carolina, freeing up federal money and resources for storm response. Officials have declared states of emergency in North and South Carolina, Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia.
In addition to flooding the coast with wind-driven storm surges of seawater as high as 12 feet (3.7 m), Florence could drop 20 inches to as much as 30 inches (51 cm to 76 cm) of rain in places, forecasters said.