Hurricane Florence has pounded the Carolinas with powerful winds and heavy rainfall, submerging homes and flooding roads.
Five people have died due to the storm, according to U.S. State officials. A mother and baby were killed when a tree fell on a house, according to a tweet from Wilmington police. The governor’s office said a third person was killed while plugging in a generator.
More than 700,000 are currently without power.
“Hurricane Florence is powerful, slow and relentless,” North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said. “It’s an uninvited brute who doesn’t want to leave.”
Cooper said the hurricane was “wreaking havoc” on the coast and could wipe out entire communities as it makes its “violent grind across our state for days.” He said parts of North Carolina had seen storm surges — the bulge of seawater pushed ashore by the hurricane — as high as 10 feet.
According to the National Hurricane Centre, Florence is expected to move into the mid-Atlantic states by the middle of next week, starting late Sunday.
