Officials said Friday Hurricane Florence has resulted in the deaths of five people, including an infant, in North Carolina.
Florence hit the area as a Category 1 hurricane early Friday before slowly moving to South Carolina. It was then downgraded to a tropical storm, CNN informs.
According to the Wilmington police department, two of the people died after a tree fell on their house. “WPD can confirm the first two fatalities of Hurricane #Florence in Wilmington. A mother and infant were killed when a tree fell on their house,” police tweeted yesterday afternoon. “The father was transported to (New Hanover Regional Medical Center) with injuries.”
In Hampstead, a woman died of cardiac arrest, as the emergency responders were unable to reach her home due to downed trees. The fourth victim of the hurricane was a man in Lenoir County who was hooking up a generator. The fifth victim, also a man, died in a wind-related death while checking on his dogs, according to emergency officials.
Also, the storm keeps pounding the same areas over and over again, flooding them even further. “The height of the storm didn’t feel as bad as it is now. The house is shaking back and forth much more violently than when the eyewall came through,” said a resident of North Carolina.
All through Saturday, the storm is expected to lumber into far southeastern North Carolina and eastern South Carolina. Over 780,000 homes and businesses were left without power in North Carolina and another 130,000 in South Carolina.
Next week, President Donald Trump is expected to visit these areas affected by the hurricane, the White House said. According to Press Secretary Sarah Sanders, the President will visit these areas “by early to middle of next week, once it is determined his travel will not disrupt any rescue or recovery efforts.”
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