Hurricane Florence linked to 31 deaths in NC, including eight in tiny Duplin County
Hurricane Florence is now blamed for 31 deaths in North Carolina, including eight in Duplin County, according to the state.
Deaths linked to the storm now total 42, including nine in South Carolina and two in Virginia.
North Carolina’s deaths include three children — a 7-month-old in New Hanover County, a 3-month-old in Gaston County and a 1-year-old in Union County.
But it is in Duplin County, a rural county with less than 60,000 people that lies west of Jacksonville and north of Wilmington, that has suffered the greatest loss of life. The southern part of the county was flooded by the northeast portion of the Cape Fear River, which set a record for height.
The previous mark of 23.5 feet was set during 1999’s Hurricane Floyd, said Elizabeth Stalls, the county’s public information officer. Florence eclipsed that mark, but the river’s gauge malfunctioned around 25 feet so there is no official figure for the river’s high mark, Stalls said. Some areas remain flooded, she said.
The county issued a mandatory evacuation for flood-prone areas, Stalls said, but there are no stats on how many people left or stayed.
There were 148 water rescue attempts in the county, but no number on how many people were rescued during those attempts, Stalls said.
Four people died in vehicles caught in flood waters over the weekend.
On Monday, a 74-year-old man and a 22-year-old woman died of carbon monoxide poisoning inside a home in the county.
State officials also announced that an 87-year-old woman and her 81-year-old husband died in the county. The woman died after her breathing issues got worse due to a lack of electricity, and her husband died after learning of his wife’s death in a house without power for several days.
“Most of our county was without power for five or six days,” Stalls said.
The county had two shelters open Thursday evening, down from four at the storm’s apex. The state has brought in lots of water and non-perishable meals ready to eat. Stalls said many residents will need household items, and the county is still doing damage assessments. Some of those impacted were still rebuilding from 2016’s Hurricane Matthew, she said.
“It’s challenging to be a rural county. We don’t have a large city or municipality on the map,” Stalls said. “We’ve gotten great response from the state for resources we’ve requested.”
Hurricane Florence made landfall on Friday morning over Wrightsville Beach. It brought several days of heavy rains to eastern North Carolina with more than 35 inches falling in some places, leading to widespread flooding. More than 90,000 people remain without power in North Carolina, according to the state’s Department of Public Safety.
The deaths have been attributed to, in part, house fires, motor vehicles crashes, submerged vehicles, falling trees and carbon monoxide poisoning.
The state’s breakdown of deaths, by county:
• Anson: 1
• Cleveland: 2
• Columbus: 2
• Cumberland: 2
• Duplin: 8
• Gaston: 2
• Lenoir: 2
• New Hanover: 2
• Onslow: 1
• Pender: 1
• Robeson: 1
• Rutherford: 1
• Sampson: 2
• Scotland: 1
• Union: 2
• Wayne: 1
This story was originally published September 20, 2018 at 4:58 PM.