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VIDEO: Dog rescued from hurricane flooding
NEW BERN, N.C. – People and their pets were forced to evacuate from floodwaters as Hurricane Florence made landfall in North Carolina on Friday.
Video shows a woman in a pink raincoat carrying her rottweiler above the rising waters in New Bern, North Carolina.
Preparing for the worst, about 9,700 National Guard troops and civilians were deployed with high-water vehicles, helicopters and boats that could be used to pluck people from the floodwaters.
At 2 p.m., Florence was centered about 35 miles (55 kilometers) west-southwest of Wilmington, North Carolina, and about 35 miles (55 kilometers) east-northeast of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. It was crawling west at 5 mph (7 kph).
The National Hurricane Center said Florence was forecast to keep moving farther inland across the Carolinas through the weekend before turning toward the central Appalachian Mountains early next week.
Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 35 miles (55 kilometers) from the center and tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 170 miles (280 kilometers).