- Title: The calm before Florence as residents in North Carolina brace for storm
- Date: 12th September 2018
- Summary: VARIOUS OF STREET WITH PEOPLE BILL SAFFO, REAL ESTATE AGENT AND WILMINGTON'S PART-TIME MAYOR, SPEAKING WITH REPORTER (SOUNDBITE) (English) BILL SAFFO, REAL ESTATE AGENT AND WILMINGTON'S PART-TIME MAYOR, SAYING: "Yeah this is a serious storm, this is a big storm it's one of the biggest storms we've seen come up the Carolina coast and in several decades. We want the citizens
- Embargoed: 26th September 2018 22:12
- Keywords: Florence storm North Carolina evacuation preps
- Location: WILMINGTON, NORTH CAROLINA, UNITED STATES
- City: WILMINGTON, NORTH CAROLINA, UNITED STATES
- Country: USA
- Topics: Disaster/Accidents,Wind/Hurricane/Typhoons/Tornadoes
- Reuters ID: LVA0038XBPJ5Z
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:Fears about Hurricane Florence spread south on Wednesday (September 12), with Georgia declaring a state of emergency after officials in the Carolinas urged people to evacuate the coast ahead of the storm's expected pounding winds and rain-driven floods.
Florence weakened slightly to a Category 3 storm on a five-step scale but had maximum sustained winds of 125 miles per hour (201 km per hour) as of 2 p.m. EDT (1800 GMT), down from 130 mph earlier in the day. Its trajectory showed its center most likely to strike the southern coast of North Carolina by late Thursday or early Friday, the National Hurricane Center said.
Updated NHC forecasts showed the storm lingering near the coast of the Carolinas, carrying days of heavy rains that could bring intense inland flooding from South Carolina to Virginia. Parts of North Carolina could get 40 inches (1 meter) of rain.
Wilmington, North Carolina, just north of where the hurricane is expected to come ashore, was sunny around midday on Wednesday as the town appeared to be emptying.
"We've been here for about nine years and weathered some storms so we're ready for it," said Brad Corpening, 35, who planned to ride out the storm in his boarded-up delicatessen in Wilmington.
Officials in New Hanover County, which includes Wilmington, have stockpiled enough food and water for 60,000 people for four days, along with more than 28,000 tarps. Shelters in the city were filling and some people were being bused inland to Raleigh, even though some residents there were told they might have to evacuate because of flooding.
"This storm, like all storms, will come and it will go. After it's over, no matter how bad the damage is, we will repair together, we will rebuild together." said Woody White, chairman of the New Hanover County Commissioners.
More than 1 million people have been ordered to evacuate the coastlines of the Carolinas and Virginia. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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