Hurricane Florence leaves “a monumental disaster” in the Carolinas, with more trouble to come – “There will be flooding like we’ve never seen before”

Desdemona Despair

By Holly Yan, Susannah Cullinane, and Cassie Spodak
17 September 2018

WILMINGTON, North Carolina (CNN) – Even as Florence leaves the Carolinas, the floodwaters and death toll keep rising.

The storm once known as Hurricane Florence has killed 20 people, trapped hundreds more and cut off an entire city. But forecasters say the worst flooding is yet to come.

“This is a monumental disaster for our state,” North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said Monday. “This is an epic storm that is still continuing because the rivers are still rising.”

Residential streets have turned into rivers. Parts of freeways — dotted with rescue boats — have morphed into free-flowing waterways.

And Florence, now a tropical depression, will probably dump another 2 to 5 inches of rain Monday on central and southeastern North Carolina, CNN meteorologist Michael Guy said.

But even when the rain lets up, don’t be fooled. The big concern now is river water gushing downstream, further deluging flooded cities.

“Catastrophic and historic river flooding will continue for days across portions of the Carolinas,” the National Weather Service said.

Now, there are fears that the death toll will keep climbing. Authorities reported two more deaths on Monday, both in North Carolina.

The body of an elderly man was found by his submerged car Monday morning, the Union County Sheriff’s Office said.

And 1-year-old Kaiden Lee-Welch, who was swept away by rushing waters Sunday, was found dead Monday, also in Union County.

“There will be flooding like we’ve never seen before”

That was the message Monday from Wilmington Mayor Bill Saffo, whose city is so deeply submerged that no one could get in Sunday. [more]

Florence leaves ‘a monumental disaster’ in the Carolinas — with more trouble to come