Tropical Storm Florence starts to dump rain in the area near Wilmington, N.C. at 7.15 am. It was moving with a wind speed of 90 miles per hour. The wind speed reduced to 70 miles per hour by 5 pm. Although the wind is slowing down, it could continue to dump rain throughout all the day in the weekend.
Up to date, at least 5 people have died from the storm
. A woman and a child were trapped in a tree and die after the roof fell on them. They died while they are still trapped in the tree. The father of the child sustained unspecified injuries and was sent to New Hanover Regional Medical Center. J.S. Mason, a fire chief deputy said the tree was large and difficult to cut with a chain saw. The rescue team did not have any technical equipment to cut through the tree.
Another person was electrocute while attempting to connect two extension cords to start a generator. There is also a man who died after being knocked over to the ground by the wind while trying to check on his two hunting dogs. The fifth woman died as a result of a heart attack. There was a 911 call being made but emergency services couldn’t reach to her in time due to the delay caused by downed trees. They had to use a front loader to remove all the obstacles on the way to reach her.
Carolina Governor Roy Cooper said that the hurricane is an uninvited brute. He pointed out that the storm is causing havoc in the state and threatening to wipe out everyone if it is to last for days. Andy Gallacher of Al Jazeera said that the hurricane is not acting like normal. Normally, a hurricane would go inland but Florence is persistent on staying in a single region for at least 48 hours. Tropical Storm Florence has caused many roads to become damaged, trees are being flattened and lots of power outages.
Florence was recorded to have a gust of 169km/h which breaks the record of Hurricane Fran earlier on Friday. The National Hurricane Center reported that Emerald Isle is being flooded with 1.92 meters of standing water. Earlier, the government was urging people to evacuate but not everyone has left the area. There are over 12,000 shelters in North Carolina. In Virginia, four hundred shelters have also been opened to help victims.
Given the size of the storm and slow moment, it is expected that it will cause severe flooding problem for residential, business and industrial sites. Federal Emergency Management Agency can take the opportunity to show its performance this time. Last year, it receives much criticism for its slow responses to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico.