Hurricane Florence PHOTOS: Flooding wreaks havoc in North Carolina ahead of landfall
HURRICANE Florence is set to be one of the most destructive storms to hit the east coast of the United States in decades when it makes landfall on Friday afternoon, but the outer bands of the storm have already caused extensive flooding across isolated coastal communities.
Hurricane Florence: Storm surge overtakes North Carolina home
The storm has weakened to a category two hurricane, and its progression has slowed to crawl, moving at around five miles per hour as it approaches the eastern seaboard.
Chad Myers, CNN meteorologist, warned the real risk will be posed by extensive flooding which is expected to strike in the coming few days.
He said: “I don’t care if this goes down to a category one storm, we’re still going to have a category four storm surge.”
Ken Graham, director of the National Hurricane Centre, also warned trees will be easily uprooted in coastal regions due to saturated soil, which will exacerbate flooding.
I don’t care if this goes down to a category one storm, we’re still going to have a category four storm surge
He said: “It’s not going to take much in a lot of these areas to saturate the soil, so trees are going to come down really easily.”
Isolated communities along the North and South Carolina coast already witnessed flooding on Thursday, as the outer bands of the storm began to wreak havoc.
Residents in New Bern, North Carolina were forced to wade through flood water after the Neuse River broke its banks.
Streets in the centre of the town were also closed on Thursday after they were submerged by rising water.
North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper commented on the expected widespread impacts of the hurricane, stating: “Catastrophic effects will be felt outside the centre of the storm due to storm surge.
“Tens of thousands of structures are expected to be flooded, and many more by rising rivers and creeks.”
Over 100,000 homes and businesses across North Carolina are already without power after electricity cables were damaged by rising winds, according to the North Carolina Emergency Management agency.
Around 12,000 individuals are also in 126 evacuation shelters across the state ahead of the hurricane’s landfall.
Hurricane Florence: Storm timeline as North Carolina set for hit
Hurricane Florence is currently around 85 miles east-south-east of Wilmington, North Carolina, and around 145 miles east of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
Neil Jacobs of the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration noted Florence’s landfall, when the centre of the eye reaches land, will occur on Friday afternoon at the earliest.
North Carolina is expected to receive up to 40 inches of rain over the coming days, and storm surge is forecast to be very high.