Charlotte North Carolina News

Seventeen deaths have now been attributed to Hurricane Florence in North Carolina, including a 1-year-old boy from Union County who was swept away by floodwaters. Gov. Roy Cooper is describing Florence’s wrath as “a monumental disaster for our state.” While the eye of the storm has left North Carolina, officials are bracing for the “worst flooding yet.” A total of 18 counties have been added to North Carolina’s Major Federal Disaster Declaration request. More counties…

Marines land in uptown Charlotte U.S. Marine Corps aircraft land in uptown Charlotte in preparation for Marine Week , Sept. 5-9. 2018. More than 700 Marines will descend on Charlotte to participate in hands-on displays, ceremonies, community projects, and live demonstrations.

Tammy and Olen Gill had decided to take their baby, Kade, from their mobile home in northern Gaston County to their daughter’s brick home in Kings Mountain Sunday. But the waves of rain and gusts of wind were mild enough that they wondered if they were overreacting, 21-year-old daughter Autumn Gill said Monday. She ate lunch before coming to get them. By the time she pulled in, her 3-month-old baby brother was fatally injured and…

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools students will return to class Tuesday, the district announced Monday. But that will immediately be followed by a scheduled teacher work day off on Wednesday. Evacuation shelters set up last week at East Mecklenburg, West Mecklenburg, North Mecklenburg, South Mecklenburg and Ardrey Kell high schools will be moved Monday to county recreation centers, CMS said. Central Piedmont Community College also announced Monday that students would return to a regular schedule on Tuesday. Students…

Updated: 1 p.m. According to North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, there have been 17 confirmed deaths in North Carolina due to Florence.  In the Charlotte region, the deaths include a three-month-old from Gaston County and a one-year-old from Union County.  “We mourn the loss of every life and our hearts are with their families,” Cooper said in a press conference Monday afternoon.  The governor cautioned residents to continue to heed evacuation notices. Even though the…

Updated: 3:30 p.m.  No serious injuries related to Florence were reported in Charlotte this past weekend, city officials said in an afternoon press conference.  City Manager Marcus Jones called Charlotte’s preparation and response to the storm a “celebration of communication.” “We had a game plan and we followed the game plan,” Jones said. Now, city officials said they’re moving into the recovery stage.  City Engineer Mike Davis said removing trees and keeping streets open are…

The death toll blamed on Hurricane Florence stands at 13in North Carolina and 6 in South Carolina, including two bodies recovered Monday morning in Union County, N.C. The dead include people who drowned, were electrocuted, crushed by trees, “thrown by the wind” and carbon monoxide poisoning, media outlets and government agencies report. The death toll rose Monday morning when an unidentified man’s body was found in the flood waters in Union County, N.C. WSOC reported…

A widely shared photo purporting to show CNN’s Anderson Cooper exaggerating Florence-related flooding comes with some credibility problems of its own. The photo of Cooper reporting from waist-deep water while a camera crew stands in ankle-deep water a few steps away has gone viral on social media, with Donald Trump Jr. and others using it to blast media coverage of Florence, which hit the Carolinas as a hurricane Friday. “Stop Lying to try to make…

Our reporters and photojournalists are in the field throughout the Carolinas reporting on the effects of Florence. Their Sunday reports are here and their Saturday reporters are here. You can follow them at https://twitter.com/newsobserver/lists/hurricane-mcclatchy Spring Lake, NC: ‘A thing I love has become so dangerous’ Natalie Allen said she’s “heartbroken.” She was evacuated from her second-floor apartment in Spring Lake near Fort Bragg by Spring Lake Fire-Rescue on Monday when the nearby Little River swelled…

Florence is being blamed for at least one death in the Charlotte region. A tree fell on a mobile home in Gaston County near Dallas Sunday, killing 3-month old Kade Gill.  The Gaston Gazette reports Kade Gill and his mother Tammy Gill were on the couch when the tree crashed through their home off Old Willis School Road.  The tree landed between the kitchen and living room of the home and pinned the boy against…

This story was updated at 7:30 a.m. Monday. Rescue workers in Union County planned to resume their search Monday morning for a 1-year-old boy who was swept away in floodwaters on Sunday. In Dallas, N.C., an infant boy was the first person killed by the storm in the Charlotte area. The 3-month-old died after a large pine tree fell on his mobile home Sunday afternoon, Gaston County police confirmed. Sunday was also the day 3-month-old…

Here’s what a flash flood looks like. It’s midday Sunday here on US 74 Business in Whiteville in Columbia County, where rising waters from a swamp are rushing over the road. A swift water rescue team from Illinois is here with several trucks and a boat, trying to get east to help out with the storm. Thomas Conner is sitting in his SUV nearby watching. He says after a couple of days indoors, he’s been…