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What will life be like after Florence?

Posted September 19, 2018 1:00 am

By JENNIFER KAY Associated Press

The waters of the Little River flow up against a bridge as it begins to recede making the road passable in the aftermath of Hurricane Florence in Fayetteville, N.C., Tuesday, Sept. 18, 2018. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

MIAMI - Thousands of people are still in shelters in North Carolina anxiously waiting to find out if they have a home to go back to. Heavy rains and swelling rivers are still a major concern as rising flood waters may affect communities barely touched by Florence. The storm is being blamed for at least 37 deaths in three states.

BY THE NUMBERS

- Storm deaths: Florence is being blamed for at least 37 deaths in three states, and Typhoon Mangkhut has killed at least 81 people in the Philippines and China

- Heavy rains: Nearly 36 inches (91 centimeters) of rain has fallen over Elizabethtown, North Carolina, and other towns have seen roughly 30 inches (76 centimeters) of rainfall since Thursday

- High water: The Cape Fear River crested at 61.5 feet (18.7 meters) early Wednesday morning, according to the National Weather Service.

- In the dark: About 205,000 outages, mostly in North Carolina

- Damage estimates: $17 billion to $22 billion in lost economic output and property damage, according to economists at Moody's Analytics

- Evacuations: Tens of thousands ordered out of communities along North Carolina's steadily rising rivers, while over 2.4 million people in southern China's Guangdong province were warned to escape Mangkhut

- To the rescue: Over 1,000 search-and-rescue personnel with 36 helicopters and over 200 boats were working in North Carolina, and the Defense Department assigned 13,500 military personnel to help relief efforts

- Safe now: North Carolina's governor says 2,600 people and 300 animals had been rescued

- Blocked: 1,200 North Carolina roads closed, including 357 primary roads

- City underwater: 4,300 homes in New Bern, North Carolina, inundated by flooding, or one-third of the entire number of homes in the city

DETAINEES' DEATHS

Authorities say two female inmates being transported to a mental health facility in South Carolina drowned in rising flood waters after the van they were in was swept away. High-water rescue teams plucked two deputies from the top of the van. The deaths are being investigated.

FLORENCE'S VICTIMS

Officials in the Carolinas are worried about what deaths are still to come amid the swelling rivers and flooding from Florence's crawl across both states. So far, several people have died after being swept up in the storm waters , and falling trees have killed two small children.

TYPHOON MANGKHUT

A Philippine police officer says residents of a mining camp in a mountain village refused to leave ahead of the powerful typhoon, believing their chapel and nearby bunkhouses were on stable ground. Now dozens of people are missing after a massive landslide buried the structures.

WILMINGTON GETS SUPPLIES

One of North Carolina's largest cities still is mostly cut off by floodwaters, so food, water and tarps are being brought into Wilmington by big military trucks and helicopters. More than 60 percent of homes and businesses were without power, and crews have completed about 700 rescues in the county where Wilmington is located.

SAVE HOMES OR A HIGHWAY?

A wall of concrete barriers and plastic sheets is being built along U.S. Highway 501 to save the main road into Myrtle Beach , South Carolina, from going underwater. Residents in the nearby town of Conway worry that's going to send water from the rising Waccamaw River to flood their homes instead.

PLACE TO CALL HOME

It's too early to tell how many people will end up homeless because of Florence. Rivers swollen by days of rain still threaten communities barely touched by the storm. Thousands are already in shelters in North Carolina. Mike Sprayberry, director the state Division of Emergency Management, says FEMA officials have been in the state for days looking at housing options for the displaced.

DAM HAZARDS

At least one North Carolina dam has breached so far under the strain of Florence's flooding, but officials say no homes were affected. False alarms about dam failures have caused panic in a state where there is a lot of concern about whether many dams already in poor condition will hold as rivers keep rising.

EXPLAINING THE DANGER

Experts say people likely got complacent about Florence because of a scale that only categorizes hurricanes by wind strength . Water is responsible for the vast majority of deaths in hurricanes and tropical storms, but that hazard isn't included in the system forecasters used when they described the storm as a "Category 1 hurricane" at landfall.

Crews with N.C. Baptist on Mission set up Monday Sept. 17, 2018 at the First Baptist Church of Independence Blvd. in Wilmington, N.C. The group plans on offering relief to those going thorough the aftermath of Hurricane Florence for as long as they are needed. (Ken Blevins /The Star-News via AP)

A message outside a razed home along the Neuse River in New Bern, N.C. on Monday, Sept. 17, 2018. Near the flooded-out town of New Bern , where about 455 people had to be rescued from the swirling floodwaters, water completely surrounded churches, businesses and homes. In the neighboring town of Trenton, downtown streets were turned to creeks full of brown water.(AP Photo/Gary D Robertson)

Chris Stein yells at an Onslow County Sheriff deputy begging for a power company to come cut the wires that are down in front of her neighborhood near Jacksonville N.C.,Monday, Sept. 17, 2018. She says "It's like being in Jurassic Park" and has been trapped for 4 days. (AP Photo/Tom Copeland)

The Cape Fear River rises under a closed Interstate 40 just north of Wilmington, NC in Castle Hayne N.C.,Monday, Sept. 17, 2018. (AP Photo/Tom Copeland)

William Larymore, left, of the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, and Salvatore Cirencione, of the State Law Enforcement Division, partially visible behind, help resident Franklin Bessemer, who lives on the river, back to a pier on the Waccamaw River in Conway, S.C., Monday, Sept. 17, 2018. Bessemer's boat had quit while he was checking on his home as residents evacuate. The river is expected to flood in the coming days due heavy rains from Hurricane Florence. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

William Larymore, right, of the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, and Salvatore Cirencione, of the State Law Enforcement Division, help resident Franklin Bessemer, who lives on the river, onto the pier on the Waccamaw River in Conway, S.C., Monday, Sept. 17, 2018. Bessemer's boat had quit while he was checking on his home as residents evacuate. The river is expected to flood in the coming days due heavy rains from Hurricane Florence. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

A resident stands on her pier looking out onto the rising Waccamaw River in Conway, S.C., Monday, Sept. 17, 2018. Residents are evacuating as the river is expected to flood in the coming days due heavy rains from Hurricane Florence. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Traffic moves past a downed tree on Ridge Road near Glendale Road in Henrico County, Va., Monday, Sept. 17, 2018, as the remnants of Florence pass through the area. (Bob Brown/Richmond Times-Dispatch via AP)

Roger St. John, left, and his son Justin, background, carry traffic cones to block off the lot after an apparent tornado damaged his business, St. John Furniture, on Hull Street, Monday, Sept. 17, 2018, in Chesterfield, Va. St. John said he saw the storm coming, locked the building and left. (Dean Hoffmeyer/Richmond Times-Dispatch via AP)

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