“This is going to be a long, frustrating recovery,” FEMA Administrator Brock Long said during an interview on “Fox News Sunday.”As the death toll from Florence mounted and hundreds of people were pulled from flooded homes, North Carolina is bracing for what could be the next stage of a still-unfolding disaster: catastrophic, widespread river flooding. After blowing ashore as a hurricane with 90 mph winds, Florence virtually parked itself much of the weekend atop the Carolinas as it pulled warm water from the ocean and hurled it onshore. Florence weakened to a tropical depression early Sunday and was crawling west at 8 mph. At 5 a.m., the storm was centered about 20 miles southwest of Columbia, S.C. Its winds were down to 35 mph. Despite the weakening of the storm, officials said that -- given its slow speed and the possibility for catastrophic flooding – Florence could be one of the most destructive storms in the history of the Carolinas.

Source: Fox News September 16, 2018 13:52 UTC