The city of New Bern in North Carolina after Hurricane Florence
Photo Credit: Jim Lo Scalzo – EPA/MAXPPP
What started out as a Category 1 hurricane is now a tropical depression. Hurricane Florence has left 42 people dead, thousands without power and has caused tremendous floods in its wake.
The hurricane was predicted to hit between North and South Carolina; it made landfall in North Carolina and was near a few cities on the South Carolina border.
The powerful storm had winds ranging from 120-140 mph and the southeastern region saw more than 36 inches of rain this past week.
Intense amounts of rain caused flooding in the Carolinas which led to cars, houses and land being submerged and destroyed. Residents of the Carolinas were asked to evacuate as the floodwaters became increasingly dangerous.
Quite a few of Florida A&M’s students are from the Carolinas and were anxious about the severity of the storm and the effect it would have on their family.
Imani Cooper, Miss FAMU and a senior biological system engineering major from Charlotte, N.C., says, “It’s not the first time that Charlotte has gotten hit by a tropical storm or hurricane. Usually, it doesn’t hit too far inland. So my first instinct was to reach out to my family to see if they knew which direction the storm was gonna take.”
Sophomore pre-pharmacy major Samara Blount said the majority of her immediate family lives between Greenville and New Bern, N.C.
“I wasn’t really surprised to hear that a hurricane was coming,” Blount said, “But we’ve never had a hurricane like that! I was thinking were gonna have, you know, some rain and wind. But then my family let me know that the town is completely underwater. I definitely underestimated the power the hurricane would have.”
Unfortunately, Dekorey Hobbs, a sophomore business administration major’s home wasn’t out of Hurricane Florence’s path.
“We no longer have a house. It became completely flooded because we live in Charlotte, but not the heart of Charlotte. So closer to the North and South Carolina border,” Hobbs stated.
Hobb’s father resided in North Carolina when his house was destroyed from the flooding. Hobb’s father soon had to evacuated to Maryland when he heard the hurricane was headed his way.
Last year, Tallahassee experienced the aftermath of Hurricane Irma. This hurricane season, Tallahassee residents will have less to worry about.
WTXL TV’s chief meteorologist, Casanova Nurse, commented on the path of Hurricane Florence.
“Florence is not coming this way. It’s moving to the north and basically taking the rain into the northeast. So there’s no expectation of what’s left of Florence to come here. With that being said, if we were to have a tropical system… in the next two or three months it’s still a possibility of some tropical impact.”
Flooding isn’t the only concern of citizens of the Carolinas, but the possibility of their rivers, agriculture and coal ash being affected is a fear as well. If the floods are carrying coal, it’s a large possibility that toxins can be spread into their lakes, beaches and rivers.
More rain is expected to come and possible landslides.
Residents are still being evacuated and people are trying to recover themselves, along with their belongings.