Rivers continue to rise, as Florence heads north

UPDATE: Authorities reopened a single unidentified road leading into Wilmington, N.C., Monday, as the possibility of additional flooding from the nearby Cape Fear River, swollen by upstream rain dumped by Florence, threatened more homes and businesses. “Things are getting better slowly, and we thank God for that,” said Woody White, the chairman of the New Hanover County Commissioners. Wilmington Mayor Bill Saffo said he was working with the governor’s office to get more gasoline delivered to the port city to help fuel generators, as gas stations quickly ran out over the weekend. More than 60 percent of homes and businesses in Wilmington were without power Monday, according to authorities. So far, crews have conducted approximately 700 rescues in the county. At least 20 deaths in North and South Carolina have been attributed to Florence, as officials keep a close eye on rising water in rivers and streams in both states.

Meanwhile, the remnants of Florence spawned several tornadoes in the Richmond, Va., area Monday and knocked out power to more than 900,000 homes and businesses, according to Dominion Energy Virginia. The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported one confirmed fatality from the tornadoes when a building collapsed in Chesterfield.

The tropical depression with top winds of 25 mph continues to dump significant amounts of rain as it moves northward.

UPDATE (1:22 p.m.): As remnants of Florence headed northward Monday, truckloads of military meals and bottled water arrived in Wilmington, N.C., overnight to supply residents trapped by floodwaters, according to North Carolina emergency response officials. The death toll from the storm rose to 18, when authorities found the body of a 1-year-old boy swept away by floodwaters as his mother attempted to get him to dry land.

OUR EARLIER REPORT (9:09 a.m.): Florence, now a tropical depression, began heading out of the Carolinas Monday morning, but the storm will continue to affect the region for days as rivers and streams continue to swell from massive amounts of rain over the weekend, causing widespread flooding. Some locations report up to 2 feet of rainfall. The city of Wilmington, N.C., close to where Florence first made landfall Friday, was cut off from the rest of the state due to flooding of all major highways leading to the coastal seaport. Officials said they plan to airlift food and water to the city’s 120,000 residents.

Farther inland, rescuers continued to pull people from flooded neighborhoods close to rivers spilling over their banks. Forecasters call for rivers in North Carolina, which received the brunt of the storm’s rainfall, to rise to or above record levels as far as 250 miles inland.

The U.S. Defense Department has assigned 13,500 military personnel to aid relief efforts. The death toll from the storm rose to at least 17 on Sunday, including a 3-month-old child who died when a tree fell on a mobile home in North Carolina. Heavy rain and possible flooding is expected in Virginia and West Virginia, as Florence veers toward the northeast.