Hurricane Florence, currently a Category 1 storm, officially made landfall along the North Carolina coast earlier this morning (Sept. 14). Moving slowly at around 6 miles per hour, while packing fierce winds of around 90 mph, it has already dropped more than a foot of rain in some areas, the AP reports. Two people were killed in North Carolina after a tree fell on their home in Wilmington.
Residents in vulnerable areas have been encouraged to evacuate. So far, about 12,000 people have opted to seek refuge in public shelters around the state. North Carolina governor Roy Cooper described the storm as an “uninvited brute who doesn’t want to leave.”
Photos from yesterday and today show floodwaters creeping into communities. While some North and South Carolinians are taking shelter, some are sticking it out in defiance of emergency warnings and dire forecasts.
