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WorldHurricane Florence: Warnings of 'catastrophic' flash flooding

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Hurricane Florence: Warnings of ‘catastrophic’ flash flooding

Weather forecasters warn of the risk of life-threatening flash flooding in parts of North and South Carolina, and Virginia, from storm Florence.

It has been downgraded from a hurricane to a tropical storm but continues to soak the East Coast area with rain, downing trees and damaging homes.

It is slowly grinding over the eastern states, with winds of 65mph (105km/h).

Five deaths have been linked to the storm and thousands of people have been staying in emergency shelters.

Read: Hurricane Florence starts flooding parts of the Carolinas

Evacuation warnings were issued for 1.7 million people in the region.

All five deaths linked to the storm are in North Carolina:

A mother and her infant were killed in Wilmington when a tree fell on their home on Friday. Officials say the child’s father was also transported to hospital for injuries

Two men in their 70s were killed in Lenoir County. One was killed when connecting an electrical generator, and family members say another man was killed in a wind-related death when checking on dogs outside his property
A woman died from cardiac arrest in the town of Hampstead after emergency responders had their route to her blocked by downed trees, a county official said

What is the latest on the storm?

The storm originally made landfall at Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina, on Friday morning as a category one hurricane.

“Catastrophic fresh water flooding” is expected in parts of both the Carolinas, the National Hurricane Center said late on Friday local time.

Some parts of North Carolina have already seen surges as high as 10ft in places.

Read: Hurricane Florence sparks US exodus

North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper said the hurricane was likely to “continue its violent grind for days” and described the severity of the downfalls as a “1,000 year event”.

How are residents coping?
More than 20,000 residents have packed into North Carolina emergency shelters, and officials have told those still in the storm’s path to stay in place.

Read: Trump disputes Puerto Rico hurricane death toll

In Jacksonville, North Carolina, officials had rescued more than 60 people overnight on Thursday from a hotel that was collapsing in the storm.

Parts of New Bern, North Carolina, which is home to 30,000 people, were 10ft underwater on Friday after local rivers flooded their banks.

Scores of residents in the riverfront city were plucked to safety, local reports say.

Source: bbc.com

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