Charlotte North Carolina News

The last transformer exploded before dawn, plunging the Comfort Suites hotel into total darkness. But when the dozens of guests woke to greet Hurricane Florence and its 90-mph gusts, Beth Bratz was already making coffee. As general manager, she could have closed the three-story motel on Market Street. But most of her staff lives in flat, low-lying neighborhoods, and she worried they wouldn’t last. So she took them in, along with three news crews and…

With Hurricane Florence making landfall Friday morning at Wrightsville Beach, Charlotte waited and braced for the storm’s impact . At the coast, the (Raleigh) News & Observer reported that hundreds of people were rescued or awaiting rescue as floodwaters rose in New Bern. More than 92,000 Duke Energy customers were without power in New Hanover County and 24,470 in Carteret County were in the dark — almost all of Duke’s customers there. Storm surges and…

Latest track shows Charlotte still in line for flooding rains The 8 a.m. Friday Hurricane Florence track. Friday, 8:35 a.m. There’s little deviation in the National Hurricane Center’s 8 a.m. track for Florence, which shows the storm is expected to move south and west across South Carolina through Saturday before turning north and west into North Carolina. The storm is expected to cross the Columbia, S.C. region on Saturday. Charlotte is in line for 10…

As Hurricane Florence hurtles into the Carolinas and residents face what’s now a Category 1 storm, our reporters and photojournalists are on the coast and across the region. Their Thursday reports are here and their Wednesday reports are here. You can follow them on Twitter at https://twitter.com/newsobserver/lists/hurricane-mcclatchy Southport, NC: No sightseeing, please 11:15 a.m.: Sustained winds are at 36 mph in Southport, and low-lying areas are under water. In some places it’s from heavy rain,…

Hurricane Florence delivered a slow-motion assault to the coast of North Carolina early Friday, with catastrophic storm surge and torrential rains that will continue for days. The storm made landfall at Wrightsville Beach at 7:15 a.m., with maximum sustained winds of 90 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center. But Florence, a Category 1 hurricane when it hit, already had pounded coastal areas for hours. The enormous storm crept at a 6 mph pace, making…

Updated at 6:30 a.m. There are more than 321,000 power outages statewide this morning as the eye of Hurricane Florence nears landfall in Wilmington, according to the North Carolina Department of Public Safety and the National Hurricane Center.  At 6 a.m.,  the National Hurricane Center reported the eyewall of Florence reached the Atlantic coast and that the eye of the storm will reach the state soon.  The NC Department of Public Safety reported 321,692 power…

Updated at 8 a.m. Hurricane Florence made landfall near Wrightsville Beach in North Carolina at 7:15 a.m., according to the National Hurricane Center. Florence, which has been downgraded to a Category 1 hurricane with sustained wind speeds of 90 miles per hour, has already caused significant flooding on the Outer Banks and the eastern part of the state. The North Carolina Department of Transportation warns residents to avoid driving through these areas as conditions are…

Updated at 9:15 a.m. Governor Roy Cooper calls Hurricane Florence an uninvited brute that doesn’t want to leave. In an appearance on NPR’s Morning Edition, the governor said more than 100 people have been rescued in New Bern, N.C., and crews had to rescue people from a hotel in Jacksonville. He estimates almost 20,000 people are in more than 150 shelters around the state. Ocean surge and torrential rainfall are causing flooding in coastal areas….

Updated at 11:25 a.m. Almost half a million people in North Carolina are without power as Hurricane Florence slowly makes its way across the state, bringing flooding and dangerous high winds with it inland. Gov. Roy Cooper, who spoke at a briefing on Florence this morning, continued to warn residents that the threat of Florence will linger. “The sun rose this morning on an extremely dangerous situation and it’s getting worse,” Cooper said. “The storm…

Updated at 1:20 p.m. More than 600,000 power outages are reported across North Carolina as Florence slowly moves west toward the North Carolina and South Carolina border. The North Carolina Department of Public Safety reports 604,375 power outages across the state at 1 p.m. Florence, now a Category 1 hurricane, has 75 miles per hour sustained winds and is moving at 6 miles per hour. The breadth of the hurricane’s reach — with hurricane-force winds…

Updated: 3:15 p.m. A mother and her infant died in Wilmington after a tree fell on their home, according to the Wilmington Police Department, and one other person died while plugging in a generator in Lenoir County, according to the governor’s office. These are the first reported fatalities caused by Florence. Also, in a press briefing officials in South Carolina said there are 66,924 power outages in the state as of 2 p.m. Water rescues…