Tom Bever knew he’d never be able to use all of his hotel reward points. The New Hampshire man travels 200 to 300 days a year for his marketing job to festivals, expos and trade shows and had racked up more than 1.5 million Hilton Honors points. He’d heard the Cajun Navy — volunteers who travel to rescue people after hurricanes and storms, often with their signature flat-bottom boats — had arrived on the East…

WAKE COUNTY, N.C. (WTVD) — As Hurricane Florence barrels through the Carolinas, some damage has already been seen across Wake County.On Misty River Drive in Raleigh, a home had a large tree fall directly on top of it, splitting the home in two. Full coverage of Hurricane Florence The family who owns the house had not even lived there for more than a month when the storm crushed it. Downloading the ABC11 app is the…

Hurricane Florence made landfall Friday morning as a category 1 storm and was slowly inching its way inland. But in the Triangle, which had experienced little more than gusty winds, rain and occasional power outages Thursday, some were left wondering when — or if — the “biblical flooding” and devastating wind will reach the center of the state. People were tweeting, posting on Facebook and Reddit asking “Is this it?” “Will it get worse?” “Is…

About 72,750 S.C. households were without power by mid-day Friday as Hurricane Matthew reached the Carolinas. The bulk of those outages — some 56,000 — were in Horry County. Just after 1 p.m. Friday, that included: ▪ About 38,100 direct-serve customers of state-owned Santee Cooper. More than 25,300 of those customers live in North Myrtle Beach, while nearly 12,140 are in Myrtle Beach. ▪ 21,450 customers of electric cooperatives, which buy power from Santee Cooper…

Raleigh car dealership preps for Florence Employees at Southern States Hyundai of Raleigh activate Quick Dams to help seal doors around the dealership ahead of Hurricane Florence on Wednesday, Sept. 12, 2018. The dealership had already moved its inventory off the lots.

Cajun Navy arrives in SC ahead of Florence Members of the United Cajun Navy start arriving at a staging area in Gaston, SC on Thursday, Sept. 13, 2018. This is one of four staging areas they are setting up to assist in rescues as Hurricane Florence hits the Carolinas.

NEW BERN, N.C. (WTVD) — Water rescues in New Bern started just hours after Hurricane Florence made landfall Friday morning. Before sunrise, the Category 1 storm had already dropped several feet of rain. Because of that rainfall, at least 150 people were waiting to be rescued after water levels reached 10 feet. Several volunteers offered to help use private boats to pitch in and help those who were trapped. Full coverage of Hurricane Florence One…

Hurricane Florence claimed one of Hillsborough’s oldest and largest trees, and with it electricity to the town. Early Friday morning, a tree thought to be about 200 years old toppled after being uprooted. A news release from the town said the red oak blocked Calvin Street and knocked out a power line when it fell. No injuries or other property damage were reported. Orange Rural firefighters and Hillsborough police secured the area and directed traffic…