Hundreds of people on Tuesday waited in long lines for water and other essentials in Wilmington, North Carolina, which is still mostly cut off by high water days after Hurricane Florence unleashed epic floods, and the governor pleaded with more than 10,000 evacuees across the state not to return home yet.
The death toll rose to at least 35 in three states, with 27 fatalities in North Carolina, as Florence’s remnants went in two directions: Water flowed downstream toward the North Carolina coast and storms moved northeast, with flash floods hitting New Hampshire and New York.
North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper warned that the flooding set off by as much as 1m of rain from Florence is far from over and would get worse in places.
Photo: AP
“I know for many people this feels like a nightmare that just won’t end,” he said.
Addressing about 10,000 people who remain in shelters and “countless more” staying elsewhere, Cooper urged residents to stay put, particularly those from the hardest-hit coastal counties that include Wilmington, near where Hurricane Florence blew ashore on Friday last week.
Roads remain treacherous, he said, adding that some are being closed for the first time as inland rivers swelled by torrential rainfall drain toward the Atlantic Ocean.
“I know it was hard to leave home, and it is even harder to wait and wonder whether you even have a home to go back to,” Cooper said.
In Wilmington — population 120,000 — workers began handing out supplies using a system that resembled a giant fast-food drive-thru: Drivers pulled up to a line of pallets, placed an order and left without having to get out. A woman blew a whistle each time drivers were supposed to pull forward.
Todd Tremain needed tarps to cover up spots where Florence’s winds ripped shingles off his roof.
“The roof is leaking, messing up the inside of the house,” he said.
Others got a case of bottled water or military rations. An olive-drab military forklift moved around huge pallets loaded with supplies.
Brandon Echavarrieta struggled to stay composed as he described life post-Florence: no power for days, rotted meat in the freezer, no water or food and just one bath in a week.
“It’s been pretty bad,” said Echavarrieta, 34, as his voice broke from the emotion.
Supplies have been brought into the area by large military trucks and by helicopters, which also have been used to pluck hundreds of desperate people from the top of homes and other structures.
“We still are encouraging or asking folks not to come home,” said Woody White, chairman of the New Hanover County commissioners. “We want you here. We love you. We miss you, but access to Wilmington is still very limited and is not improving as quickly as we would like.”
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia
ON ALERT: A Russian cruise missile crossed into Polish airspace for about 40 seconds, the Polish military said, adding that it is constantly monitoring the war to protect its airspace Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the western region of Lviv early yesterday came under a “massive” Russian air attack, officials said, while a Russian cruise missile breached Polish airspace, the Polish military said. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with yesterday’s strikes coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske, west of Bakhmut. A militant attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 133 people also became a new flash point between the two archrivals. “Explosions in the capital. Air defense is working. Do not