Hurricane Florence live updates: Death toll reaches eight in Carolinas as danger from flash flooding soars
Officials say the most dangerous part of the storm could be yet to come
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Your support makes all the difference.Eight people, including a mother and her infant child, have died in the Carolinas from the deadly effects of Hurricane Florence.
The powerful storm flattened trees, buckled buildings and knocked out power to nearly 930,000 homes and businesses as it battered the southeast coast of the US.
It made landfall on Friday with a life-threatening storm surge pushing water inland for miles and more than 60 people had to be pulled from a collapsing motel.
Nearly 400 people had to be rescued from their flooded homes in New Bern, North Carolina, after they decided to try and see out the wind and rain.
Governor Roy Cooper called Florence an "uninvited brute" that could wipe out entire communities as it grinds its way across land.
"The fact is this storm is deadly and we know we are days away from an ending," he said.
Florence was downgraded to a tropical storm with winds of 60 mph (95 kph) as it slowly moved west.
The first known deaths related to the storm were a mother and her infant child who were killed when a tree fell on their house in Wilmington, North Carolina.
In Lenoir County a 78-year-old man was electrocuted and a 77-year-old man was found dead after he went outside to check on his dogs.
A woman also died of a suspected heart attack in Pender county. Although it was not directly related to Florence, emergency services were blocked from attending by storm damage. On Saturday, a further three deaths were confirmed. According to Duplin County Sherriff Blake Wallace, two of the deaths happened outside of Kenansville, while the third happened in Kornegay.
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Experts had warned the effects of the hurricane could be devastating.
“This is a horrific nightmare storm from a meteorological perspective,” University of Georgia meteorology professor Marshall Shepherd said. “We’ve just never seen anything like this. This is just a strange bird.”
The Duke Energy company estimated that between 1 million and 3 million homes could be without power in the wake of the hurricane.
Donald Trump issued a stark warning on Twitter on Wednesday, telling Americans to evacuate and not to “play games with” Florence. “It’s a big one, maybe as big as they’ve seen, and tremendous amounts of water,” he added in a video posted to Twitter.
He claimed federal authorities were “fully prepared” for the hurricane, saying: “The storm will come, it will go, we want everybody to be safe. We’re fully prepared, food, medical, everything you can imagine, we are ready.
“But despite that, bad things can happen when you’re talking about a storm this size. It’s called Mother Nature, you never know. But we know, we love you all, we want you safe, get out of the storm’s way, listen to your local representatives.”
It came just days after an official report criticised the US government’s handling of the response to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, the US territory where some 3,000 people were killed last autumn.
The latest update from the National Hurricane Center reports that Florence is causing "catastrophic" flooding over North and South Carolina despite "slowly weakening" as it moves inland.
At 5am local time the storm was about 35 miles west of Myrtle Beach in South Carolina, with maximum sustained winds of 50mph.
Florence is expected to turn towards the northwest on Saturday and Sunday before turning northward through the Ohio Valley by Monday.
Tornadoes are also possible in southeastern North Carolina and northeastern South Carolina throughout Saturday, according to the NHC.
More than 165,000 households are without power across South Carolina, according to officials.
North Carolina utilities say more than 780,000 are without power, and have previously estimated that as many as 2.5m residents could be affected.
Police in Wilmington, North Carolina, put a county-wide curfew in place to keep residents off the roads between 10pm and 6am.
One officer described the roads as "a complete disaster", adding: "The wind is still strong and power lines are hanging by a thread."
A mother and her baby were killed when a tree fell on their home in Wilmington, North Carolina, on Friday
Police in New Bern, North Carolina, say 100 people are still waiting to be rescued.
So far 385 have been brought to safety, with no injuries or deaths. More rain is expected throughout Saturday.
Two further deaths have been reported in North Carolina.
Stephen Rea, Carteret County Director of Emergency Services, confirmed two people died in Harkers Island early on Friday, according to ABC News.
He said the deaths did not come as a result of drowning but did not provide further details.
North Carolina's Harnett County has declared a mandatory evacuation along a river that is expected to reach record levels.
The National Weather Service is predicting the river will crest at Manchester at 35.4ft at about 8 am on Monday.
This is 17ft above the flood stage and 6ft above the previous record set during Hurricane Matthew in 2016.
Tropical storm Florence is now 40 miles west of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and its sustained winds have decreased to 45mph, according to the latest update from the National Hurricane Center.
Florence "is expected to weaken to a tropical depression by tonight", say the NHC.
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