Rivers swell as death toll rises from Hurricane Florence

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September 16, 2018 5:29 PM

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Carolinas were drenched and largely paralyzed Sunday morning as a weakened Tropical Depression Florence slowly ravaged the South, swelling the region’s rivers and leaving authorities bracing for another day of widespread.

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Even as the storm both lost some of its power and sped up, leaving less time for its steady rains to saturate the places in its path, the death toll increased to at least 14, and rivers were rising fast.

Forecasters warned that flooding was virtually certain to worsen within hours.

Scores of shelters were open Sunday, filled with people who fled ahead of the storm and some of the hundreds more evacuated from their homes by rescue workers in boats and helicopters.

And having already unleashed days of sustained torment along the coastline and in communities in the east for days, the storm system moved west Sunday, targeting Charlotte, North Carolina, and smaller communities in both Carolinas.

The system has been downgraded to a tropical depression, meaning it has maximum sustained winds of 38 mph.

The center of the depression is over central South Carolina and moving west. Charlotte, North Carolina’s largest city, is expected to see significant rainfall, and a flash-flood watch is in effect through Monday.

Two more deaths were reported in South Carolina, and the storm has killed at least 14 people in the United States so far. The deaths include a mother and child who were killed after a tree fell on their home in Wilmington; Amber Dawn Lee, 61, a mother of two who was driving in Union County, South Carolina, when her vehicle hit a tree in the road; three people in Duplin County, North Carolina, who died because of flash flooding on the roadways; and a couple who died in a house fire in Cumberland County, North Carolina.

Although more than 1 million power failures have been reported, according to the Department of Energy, utility companies and state authorities reported some successes in restoring service.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

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