When will it end? Florence’s floodwaters rising in Carolinas

By MEG KINNARD and JEFFREY COLLINS Associated Press

GALIVANTS FERRY, S.C.

With muddy river water still washing over entire communities on Friday, eight days after Hurricane Florence slammed into land with nearly 3 feet of rain, new evacuation orders forced residents to flee to higher ground amid a sprawling disaster that’s beginning to feel like it will never end.

At least 42 people have died, included an elderly man whose body was found in a submerged pickup truck in South Carolina, and hundreds were forced from their homes as rivers kept swelling higher.

Leaders in the Carolinas warned residents not to get complacent, warning additional horrors lie ahead before things get much better.

“Although the winds are gone and the rain is not falling, the water is still there and the worst is still to come,” said South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster.

Speaking in Las Vegas, President Donald Trump said South Carolina is in for a “tough one” as flood waters keep rising.

“They got hit, but the big hit comes days later and it will be the biggest they’ve ever had,” said Trump, who visited North and South Carolina this week.

While most peoples’ lights are back on in the Carolinas and Virginia and trucks are picking up mountains of storm debris, water draining toward the sea from inland areas is sending rivers over their banks across a wide region.

Rescuers wearing night-vision googles used helicopters, boats and big-wheeled military vehicles overnight to evacuate about 100 people from a southeastern North Carolina county where high water breached a levee, flooding a town.

In South Carolina, emergency managers ordered about 500 people to flee homes along the Lynches River. The National Weather Service said the river could reach record flood levels late Saturday or early Sunday.

In tiny Galivants Ferry, Audra Mauer said she lost her home two years ago when Hurricane Matthew hit and she’s losing it again to Florence. No area improvements were made after Matthew, she said, and a frustrated Mauer has no faith any will happen now.

“They didn’t clean the ditches,” she said. “Same levee. Same dams. What have we been doing for two years?”

About 25 miles (40 kilometers) nearer to the South Carolina coast, Kevin Tovornik tore out carpet and removed furniture as a preventative measure because he expected flooding at the house he has owned for 20 years in Conway, where the Waccamaw River was still rising. Bridges are starting to close because of flooding, he said, and friends were struck in traffic for hours trying to cross the town of 23,000.

“This is ridiculous. This is the worst I’ve ever seen,” Tovornik said.

Road travel also was a daunting problem in Wilmington, a city of 120,000 people still mostly cut off from the rest of North Carolina. A photograph posted by the state transportation agency showed flowing water and buckled highway asphalt on one of the few passable routes into the city, where officials have distributed food and water to residents.

With the Great Pee Dee River receding, state officials said Interstate 95 in South Carolina would reopen after a safety check, but travelers couldn’t get very far since the highway was still closed in North Carolina because of the flooded Lumber River.

Along the Cape Fear River, David and Benetta White and their four children were given short notice to evacuate overnight as floodwaters swept over their property. By the time they got loaded into their van, water was waist-high and they had to slog through a foul-smelling soup to get to a neighbor’s pickup.

“We almost lost our lives, I’m here to tell you we did,” said White, whose family previously evacuated last Thursday as Florence, then a hurricane, approached from the Atlantic.

The South Carolina governor estimated damage from the flood in his state at $1.2 billion. In a letter, he said, the flooding will be the worst disaster in the state’s modern history. McMaster asked congressional leaders to hurry federal aid.

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said the damage in his state is in the billions of dollars, but there was no way to make a more accurate estimate while flooding continues.

As environmental worries mount, Duke Energy said a dam containing a large lake at Wilmington power plant had been breached by floodwaters, and it was possible that coal ash from an adjacent dump was flowing into the Cape Fear River.

Paige Sheehan, a Duke Energy spokeswoman, said the company didn’t believe the breach at the L.V. Sutton Power Station posed a significant threat for increased flooding to nearby communities because the river is already running high.

Something else could be a problem, though. The National Hurricane Center said it was monitoring four areas in the Atlantic for signs of a new tropical weather threat. One was off the coast of the Carolinas with a chance of drifting toward land.

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Collins reported from Columbia, South Carolina. Associated Press writers Martha Waggoner and Gary D. Robertson in Raleigh; Alan Suderman in Bladenboro, North Carolina, and Jay Reeves in Birmingham, Alabama, contributed to this report.

Jeffrey Collins and Meg Kinnard in Columbia, South Carolina; Michael Biesecker in Washington and Jay Reeves in Atlanta contributed to this report.

Area residents ride down N.C. Highway 53 that is flooded from the Northeast Cape Fear River in Burgaw, N.C., Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2018. The river had severe flooding due to the rains from Hurricane Florence.

The Star-News via AP

Matt Born

Part of the Starlite Motel is washed away in the aftermath of flooding from Hurricane Florence in Spring Lake, N.C., Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2018.

David Goldman

AP Photo

Part of the Starlite Motel is washed away in the aftermath of flooding from Hurricane Florence in Spring Lake, N.C., Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2018.

David Goldman

AP Photo

Kishor Depani sorts through the damage of the motel he co-owns and lived in which was destroyed in the flooding from Hurricane Florence in Spring Lake, N.C., Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2018. Depani had put all his savings in the motel which he bought with family members about six months ago.

David Goldman

AP Photo

Smita Depani, left, dumps out tea as her husband, Kishor, looks on while the family sorts through the damage of the motel they co-own and lived in which was destroyed in the flooding from Hurricane Florence in Spring Lake, N.C., Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2018.

David Goldman

AP Photo

Smita Depani, center, stands in the apartment she lived in while surveying the damage with her brother-in-law Jayanti Depani, left, and sister-in-law Puspa Manvar in the motel they own which was destroyed in the flooding from Hurricane Florence in Spring Lake, N.C., Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2018.

David Goldman

AP Photo

Dinesh Depani sorts through the damage of the motel his family owns which was destroyed in the flooding from Hurricane Florence in Spring Lake, N.C., Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2018.

David Goldman

AP Photo

Jose Perez-Santiago, right, holds his daughter Jordalis, 2, as they return to their home for the first time since it was flooded in the aftermath of Hurricane Florence in Spring Lake, N.C., Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2018. “I didn’t realize we would lose everything,” said Perez-Santiago. “We’ll just have to start from the bottom again.”

David Goldman

AP Photo

Rosemary Acevedo-Gonzalez, left, holds her daughter, Jordalis, 2, as they return to their home for the first time since it was flooded in the aftermath of Hurricane Florence in Spring Lake, N.C., Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2018.

David Goldman

AP Photo

Rosemary Acevedo-Gonzalez retrieves clothing from her daughter’s bathroom as she returns to their home for the first time since it was flooded in the aftermath of Hurricane Florence in Spring Lake, N.C., Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2018. “This is the only thing I can get,” said Acevedo-Gonzalez of what was salvageable. “That’s it. I’m done.”

David Goldman

AP Photo

Rosemary Acevedo-Gonzalez retrieves her daughter’s clothing as she returns to their home for the first time since it was flooded in the aftermath of Hurricane Florence in Spring Lake, N.C., Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2018. “This is the only thing I can get,” said Acevedo-Gonzalez of what was salvageable. “That’s it. I’m done.”

David Goldman

AP Photo

Jose Perez-Santiago, left, and Rosemary Acevedo-Gonzalez, walk with their daughter Jordalis, 2, after retrieving her clothing upon returning to their home for the first time since it was flooded in the aftermath of Hurricane Florence in Spring Lake, N.C., Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2018. “I didn’t realize we would lose everything,” said Perez-Santiago. “We’ll just have to start from the bottom again.”

David Goldman

AP Photo

U.S. Army Sgt. Rose Stromberg holds the American flag she was able to retrieve from her storage unit which was flooded in the aftermath of Hurricane Florence in Spring Lake, N.C., Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2018. The flag, which is adorned with all the names of those killed in the 9/11 terrorist attacks, flew with her during her deployment in Afghanistan.

David Goldman

AP Photo

Dirt covers the back of U.S. Army Sgt. Rose Stromberg after she crawled into her storage unit, which was flooded in the aftermath of Hurricane Florence, to retrieve an American flag adorned with the names of those killed in the 9/11 terrorist attacks, in Spring Lake, N.C., Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2018.

David Goldman

AP Photo

Seema Depani, left, helps her family clean up after flooding from Hurricane Florence destroyed the Starlite Motel which her family owns in Spring Lake, N.C., Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2018.

David Goldman

AP Photo

The wall of a motel room shows how high the flooding reached from the Little River in the aftermath of Hurricane Florence in Spring Lake, N.C., Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2018.

David Goldman

AP Photo

In this Sept. 19, 2018, photo released by Cape Fear River Watch, heavy rains from Hurricane Florence erode and breach a coal ash landfill at the L.V. Sutton Power Station in Wilmington, N.C. The landfill under construction at the site ruptured over the weekend, spilling enough material to fill 180 dump trucks. Coal ash contains arsenic, mercury and other toxic metals.

Cape Fear River Watch via AP

Kemp Burdette

In this Sept. 19, 2018, photo released by Cape Fear River Watch, an earth mover is used to repair one of several breaches in a ruptured coal ash landfill at the L.V. Sutton Power Station in Wilmington, N.C. The landfill under construction at the site meant to hold coal ash in lined terraces ruptured over the weekend from heavy rains from Hurricane Florence, spilling enough material to fill 180 dump trucks. Coal ash contains arsenic, mercury and other toxic metals.

Cape Fear River Watch via AP

Kemp Burdette

Severe flooding from the Northeast Cape Fear River due to the torrential rains from Hurricane Florence is seen in Burgaw, N.C., Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2018. Frustration and sheer exhaustion are building as thousands of people wait to go home seven days after the storm began battering the coast.

The Star-News via AP

Matt Born

Chaplain Maryann Koffenberger places a painted board over the doorway of a storm damaged home on East Front Street in New Bern, N.C., Thursday, Sept. 20, 2018. Residents and volunteers are beginning cleanup efforts after Hurricane Florence.

Sun Journal via AP

Gray Whitley

Household items and appliances are curbside as residents and volunteers begin cleanup efforts on Change Street in New Bern, N.C., Thursday, Sept. 20, 2018. Hurricane Florence brought damaging winds and destructive flooding to the historic neighborhood near the Neuse River.

Sun Journal via AP

Gray Whitley

Storm damaged items and debris are piled in front of homes in the historic district in New Bern, N.C., Thursday, Sept. 20, 2018. Cleanup efforts are underway after Hurricane Florence brought destructive flooding near the Neuse River.

Sun Journal via AP

Gray Whitley

A cleanup crew member pushes a wheelbarrow of storm debris past a beached yacht on East Front Street in New Bern, N.C., Thursday, Sept. 20, 2018. Hurricane Florence brought destructive flooding and storm surge to the historic community near the Neuse River.

Sun Journal via AP

Gray Whitley

Volunteer Rita DeSanno helps clean furniture that was flooded at a home on Craven Street in New Bern, N.C., Thursday, Sept. 20, 2018. Cleanup efforts are underway after Hurricane Florence brought destructive flooding to the historic community near the Neuse River.

Sun Journal via AP

Gray Whitley

Resident Karen Whitmore places a box of free snacks outside her storm damaged home on Change Street in New Bern, N.C., Thursday, Sept. 20, 2018. Cleanup efforts are underway after Hurricane Florence brought destructive flooding to the historic community near the Neuse River.

Sun Journal via AP

Gray Whitley

Tobacco plants battered and bruised by Hurricane Florence stand unharvested in fields near Fremont, N.C., on Thursday, Sept. 20, 2018. Farmer Craig West said the leaves are about as appealing and saleable as a bunch of bruised bananas, but they can’t be harvested anyway because the fields are too soggy after the storm.

Emery P. Dalesio

AP Photo

This combination of satellite images provided by DigitalGlobe shows farms, roads, and homes on April 6, 2018, left, before Hurricane Florence moved through the area and after the storm on Thursday, Sept. 20 near Wallace, N.C. Hurricane Florence is testing the resolve of farmers in the Carolinas, who could face billions of dollars in agricultural damage while still feeling the sting from Hurricane Matthew in 2016. Early farm reports confirm pre-storm worries about losses to tobacco, cotton and corn crops. (DigitalGlobe, a Maxar company via AP)

Priscilla Godwin talks about the last week dealing with effects of Hurricane Florence, while her daughter Kanaiya McCormick, 1, sits by her side, Thursday, Sept. 20, 2018, in Fayetteville, N.C. Godwin, 32, was born and raised in the house that used to belong to her mother. She now lives in the house with her two children and boyfriend Craig. “This is all we have, so we have to make it right,” said Godwin. A friend provided a square of carpet for the living room so the kids had a place to sit. With school and day cares closed, Godwin has struggled to get work done while watching her two children as well.