Rescues Needed and Flooding Worsening Due to Florence's Heavy Rains

WILMINGTON, N.C. (AP) — The Latest on Hurricane Florence (all times local):
2 p.m.
A weakening Hurricane Florence is almost at a standstill over southeastern North Carolina.
It just barely has Category 1 hurricane strength with top sustained winds of 75 mph (120 kph).
At 2 p.m., Florence was centered about 35 miles (55 kilometers) west-southwest of Wilmington, North Carolina, and about 35 miles (55 kilometers) east-northeast of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. It was crawling west at 5 mph (7 kph).
The National Hurricane Center said Florence was forecast to keep moving farther inland across the Carolinas through the weekend before turning toward the central Appalachian Mountains early next week.
Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 35 miles (55 kilometers) from the center and tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 170 miles (280 kilometers).
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1:30 p.m.
The National Weather Service says 14 to 15 inches of rain has already fallen north of Swansboro, North Carolina and it's only going to get worse.
Weather Prediction Center senior forecaster David Roth said catastrophic flash flooding is expected to continue to worsen Friday.
He said that the heavy rainfall for southeast North Carolina is only one-third to one-quarter the way over.
"Plenty of heavy rain remains in the future for this region," Roth wrote in the weather center's rain forecast discussion.
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1 p.m.
Flights are grounded at several airports in the Southeast as Hurricane Florence barges thr...

Source: JEMS Operations - September 14, 2018 Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Associated Press Tags: News Operations Source Type: news