Flooding in the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew has displaced several thousand people in North Carolina and authorities were on Tuesday helping more evacuate as swollen rivers threatened a wide swath of the state.
North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory warned of “extremely dangerous” conditions in the coming days in central and eastern parts of the state, where several rivers were at record or near-record levels.
Matthew killed at least 1,000 people in Haiti last week before barreling up the US southeastern coast and causing at least 30 deaths in Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas.
Photo: Reuters
McCrory’s office said four additional deaths were confirmed on Tuesday in North Carolina, raising the death toll in the state to 18.
One person was reported as missing.
An additional US death occurred on Monday night in Lumberton, North Carolina, where officials said a highway patrol officer fatally shot a man who became hostile and flashed a handgun during search-and-rescue efforts in fast-running floodwater.
Nearly 4,000 people have taken refuge in North Carolina shelters, including about 1,200 people in the hard-hit Lumberton area, where the Lumber River had crested at almost 1.2m above the prior record set in 2004 after Hurricane Frances.
Water blanketed the city of 21,000 people, leaving businesses flooded, homes with water up to their rooflines and drivers stranded after a stretch of Interstate 95 became impassable.
“We lost everything,” said 62-year-old Sarah McCallum, who was staying in a shelter established in an agricultural center after floodwaters drove her from her home of 20 years.
State officials are particularly concerned about victims like McCallum, who have no flood insurance because they do not live in areas typically prone to inundation.
US President Barack Obama on Monday signed a disaster declaration for North Carolina, which is to make federal funding available to people in the hardest-hit areas. Obama on Tuesday approved a similar declaration for South Carolina, where Matthew made landfall on Saturday.
About 532,000 homes and businesses remained without power in the US southeast on Tuesday, down from the peak of about 2.2 million on Sunday morning.
Matthew dumped more than 30cm of rain in areas of North Carolina already soaked from heavy rainfall last month. It has triggered the worst flooding in the state since Hurricane Floyd in September 1999, the US National Weather Service said.
That storm caused devastating floods in North Carolina, resulting in 35 deaths, 7,000 destroyed homes and more than US$3 billion in damages in the state.
In Matthew’s wake, officials are monitoring a number of overtopped or breaching dams, in addition to the threat of inland river flooding, the governor’s office said.
McCrory warned that the Tar River was yesterday expected to crest in Greenville, North Carolina, where a mandatory evacuation order is already in place.
Officials remain concerned about Kinston, where significant flooding was already occurring from the Neuse River, which is expected to crest at about 8m on Saturday, just shy of the Floyd record.
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