Trump visits storm-ravaged North Carolina

President Donald Trump arrived in North Carolina Wednesday to survey damage left by Hurricane Florence. “America grieves with you and our hearts break for you,” the president said at a briefing by local and federal officials. He praised first responders and promised support from the federal government: “We will be there 100 percent.” Later, he joined volunteers at Temple Baptist Church in New Bern, N.C., serving meals to those affected by the storm.

Although skies have cleared and the rain has long ended, several rivers in the eastern part of the state continue to rise, and close to 10,000 displaced North Carolinians remain in shelters waiting to head home and assess property damage. Gov. Roy Cooper asked for patience as the threat of more flooding from not-yet-crested rivers, many already above flood levels, looms. “I know it was hard to leave home, and it is even harder to wait and wonder whether you even have a home to go back to,” he said. “I know for many people this feels like a nightmare that just won’t end.”

Several of North Carolina’s rivers flow into South Carolina, creating a flood risk there, as well. Nichols, S.C., Mayor Lawson Battle said his small town, near where the Little Pee Dee and Lumber rivers converge, was underwater again.

Risks of environmental damage increased in North Carolina when more than 5 million gallons of partially treated sewage spilled into the Cape Fear River after a power outage at a treatment plant, according to officials. Also, a dam to a pond holding hog waste was breached by floodwaters. An estimated 3.4 million chickens and 5,500 hogs on farms in the eastern part of the state died from the storm and its aftermath.

The death toll from Florence in the region reached 37 Tuesday night when two mental health patients drowned when a van transporting them was swept away by floodwaters in South Carolina. The Horry County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the incident. The National Weather Service confirmed Wednesday that remnants of Florence spawned six tornadoes in Virginia on Monday afternoon, five of them in the Richmond area, the strongest of which caused a building in Chesterfield to collapse, killing a man who worked there.