What should I do when a hurricane approaches?

What should I do when a hurricane approaches?

Putting together a hurricane “survival kit”? Here are three-day and 14-day checklists of items you’ll want to include. Be sure to check out the WRAL video of some items you might not be aware you will need if you’re without food, clean water or electricity. Three-day supply kit Start with an easy to carry, watertight container – a large, plastic trash can will do, or you can line a sturdy cardboard box with a couple…

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Clear yard before hurricane's winds make lawn furniture into projectiles

Clear yard before hurricane's winds make lawn furniture into projectiles

By Monica Laliberte, WRAL executive producer/consumer reporter In the hours you have before the rain and winds move in, homeowners can take steps to limit any damage Hurricane Florence might do. Check the trees in your yard. Prune dead branches that are weak enough to break off when the wind picks up. Clear debris from storm drains, and do a quick check of your rain gutters. Any clogs there will back up onto your property,…

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See how Florence's storm surge could affect where you live

See how Florence's storm surge could affect where you live

(Source: Pixabay) SOUTHEASTERN NORTH CAROLINA (WECT) – With Hurricane Florence bearing down on southeastern North Carolina, the storm is expected to bring a violent storm surge to the region. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has put together an interactive online map that can show potential storm surge flooding where you live. Forecasters believe the storm surge could reach in excess of 10 feet, especially as its eyewall jams close to the New Hanover County and Pender…

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Hotels canceling reservations ahead of Florence

Hotels canceling reservations ahead of Florence

People are wondering what to do after their Florence plans have fallen through. (Source: FEMA) WILMINGTON, NC (WECT) – As Hurricane Florence closes in, some people are finding their plans for riding out the storm are changing at the last minute. Several members on the WECT Community Voice Facebook page posted about finding out the reservations they had made for a room at a hotel in Wilmington or another interior area in New Hanover County…

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5 p.m. update: When will Charlotte feel the effects of Hurricane Florence?

5 p.m. update: When will Charlotte feel the effects of Hurricane Florence?

Hurricane Florence, which initially was expected to be a late-week and weekend visitor in Charlotte, now is expected to dampen the early part of next week. And it’s potentially bringing more rain and a greater risk of flooding. The National Hurricane Center now expects the Charlotte area to get 6 to 12 inches of precipitation from the storm in the coming days. Isolated areas in the higher elevations of both Carolinas could get as much…

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Homeless during Hurricane Florence? Here’s where you can go, and how others can help

Homeless during Hurricane Florence? Here’s where you can go, and how others can help

Four shelters opened Wednesday at Charlotte high schools and another will open Thursday morning as Hurricane Florence moves toward the coast of the Carolinas. The shelters are primarily meant for coastal evacuees, although Charlotte-Mecklenburg Emergency Management deputy director Robert Graham said Charlotte-area residents who haven’t found shelter with friends or family can come to the high school shelters, too. “We’re not going to turn anybody away,” he said. All five shelters — at East Mecklenburg,…

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How to prepare your house for Hurricane Florence: Tips from people who blow up houses

How to prepare your house for Hurricane Florence: Tips from people who blow up houses

Take it from the folks who blow up homes for a living, there are some common-sense steps to take now that will help prepare yourself and your home for the approaching storm. Hurricane Florence is expected to strike land and begin lumbering westward sometime Saturday morning, bringing a combination of torrential rains and gale-force winds to the Charlotte area. Duke Energy estimates up to 3 million of its customers in the Carolinas could be without…

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Southeastern N.C. shelters filling fast in advance of Florence

Southeastern N.C. shelters filling fast in advance of Florence

Hundreds of area residents were flocking to county shelters in Wilmington, New Hanover, Brunswick and Pender on Sept. 12, in advance of Hurricane Florence. Hundreds of area residents were flocking to emergency shelters in three coastal counties Wednesday in advance of Hurricane Florence. “It’s hectic, really hectic,” said Dan Prelich, an American Red Cross worker who was supervising the shelter at North Brunswick High School in Leland. Some 20 people slept at the shelter Tuesday…

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US says transfer from FEMA funds won’t harm hurricane relief

US says transfer from FEMA funds won’t harm hurricane relief

WASHINGTON (AP) — Trump administration officials pushed back Wednesday against a Democratic senator’s claim that nearly $10 million from the government’s disaster relief agency was transferred to immigration enforcement. Sen. Jeff Merkley’s claim, which came as a monster hurricane barreled toward the Carolinas, was quickly branded by Homeland Security as “a sorry attempt to push a false agenda.” – Advertisement – The Oregon senator said the administration took $9.8 million from the Federal Emergency Management…

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Duke Energy plans for restoring power after Hurricane Florence

Duke Energy plans for restoring power after Hurricane Florence

WILMINGTON, NC (WECT) – Duke Energy projects as many as three million customers could lose power for an extended period of time because of Hurricane Florence. “That is our worst-case scenario,” said Howard Fowler, Duke Energy Storm Director. Fowler and Duke Energy North Carolina President David Fountain briefed reporters on the company’s planned response to the massive storm. “People can be without power for a very long time,” Fountain said. “Not just days, but weeks.”…

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Why does FEMA’s Brock Long take Florence so seriously? Because he remembers Hugo.

Why does FEMA’s Brock Long take Florence so seriously? Because he remembers Hugo.

For North Carolina native Brock Long, Hurricane Florence is personal. Long, who grew up in Newton, was 14 in 1989 the night Hurricane Hugo swept in, toppling trees and damaging buildings. “Hurricane Hugo . . . came right over my house,” he told CBS News Tuesday. “We were out of power for 10 days. I was out of school I remember for two weeks. This storm is setting up to be very similar to that…

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‘Don’t play games with it’: Florence takes aim at Carolinas

‘Don’t play games with it’: Florence takes aim at Carolinas

WILMINGTON, N.C. (AP) — People who thought they were relatively safe from the onslaught of Hurricane Florence began boarding up and Georgia’s governor declared a state of emergency Wednesday as uncertainty over the path of the monster storm spread worry along the Southeastern coast. Closing in with terrifying winds of 125 mph (205 kph) and potentially catastrophic rain and storm surge, Florence is expected to blow ashore Saturday morning along the North Carolina-South Carolina line,…

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Florence could flood hog manure pits, coal ash dumps

Florence could flood hog manure pits, coal ash dumps

Hurricane Florence’s heavy rains could cause an environmental disaster in North Carolina, where waste from hog manure pits, coal ash dumps and other industrial sites could wash into homes and threaten drinking water supplies. Computer models predict up to 3 feet of rain in the southeastern corner of the state, a fertile low-lying plain veined by brackish rivers with a propensity for escaping their banks. Longtime locals don’t have to strain their imaginations to foresee what…

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East Coast military bases brace for Florence

East Coast military bases brace for Florence

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — The Navy is moving people and ships ahead of Hurricane Florence , and the Air Force and Army are flying advanced aircraft elsewhere as a safeguard. Some remaining Marines, meanwhile, are digging in their heels. Florence is headed for a region with some of the most well-known military bases in the country, including Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia and the Marine Corps Recruit Depot on Parris Island in…

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Jim Cantore talks memes, 'very dangerous' Florence outlook

The Weather Channel’s Jim Cantore is a legendary figure in hurricane reporting and he arrived in Wilmington Monday. WRIGHTSVILLE BEACH — As Southeastern N.C. settled into Hurricane Florence Watch over the weekend, it also kept an eye out for another arrival — Jim Cantore. The seasoned meteorologist for The Weather Channel has long been the face of hurricane coverage for the 24-hour weather network. Wherever they go, he goes. In Southeastern N.C., ask anyone who has been…

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