FEMA chief Brock Long warns Carolina coastal residents to evacuate: 'Your time is running out'
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Federal emergency officials are urging people to treat Hurricane Florence seriously even though it is now a Category 2 storm. FEMA Administrator Brock Long warned those under evacuation orders, ‘Your time is running out.’ (Sept. 13)
AP
WASHINGTON – FEMA Administrator Brock Long urged millions of residents in Hurricane Florence’s path not to ignore evacuation warnings simply because the storm’s winds appear to be losing some strength.
“Please do not let your guard down,” he said during a news conference at FEMA headquarters Thursday morning. “Storm surge is why many of you have been placed under evacuation and we’re asking citizens to please heed a warning.
“Your time is running out.”
Florence was downgraded to a Category 2 hurricane Wednesday night. But the storm’s Florence’s tropical storm force winds were nearly 400 miles wide – bigger than the state of North Carolina, and four times larger than Ohio.Â
The hurricane’s immensity is why some 10 million people across North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia are under storm watches and warnings. Meteorologists warn Florence could become the most powerful storm to hit the region in at least 25 years.
The National Weather Service is predicting “excessive†rainfall totals, potentially up to 40 inches in isolated areas.
“This is a very dangerous storm,” Long said Thursday morning. ” We call them disasters because they break things. Infrastructure’s going to break. Power’s going to go out. Many of you who have evacuated from the Carolina coastline are going to be displaced for a while.”
Long and FEMA’s federal partners say they are as prepared as they can be. Among the steps that have been taken as of Thursday morning:
• Five dams operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Corps in North Carolina and Virginia are ready to accept water to reduce the effects of the storm’s expected onslaught of rain. The Army also is monitoring dams in at Fort Bragg in Fayetteville, N.C., and Fort Jackson in Columbia, S.C. to make sure flooding from Florence doesn’t overburden them.
• The Coast Guard has closed two North Carolina ports – Moorehead City and Wilmington – and the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay. Shallow boats and helicopters have been pre-staged for quick deployment once the storm has passed.
• The EPA is assessing industrial sites in the path of the hurricane – chemical and oil facilities, drinking and wastewater treatment plants and Superfund sites – that could pose problems if damaged. Massive flooding when Hurricane Harvey slammed Texas last year caused a leak in the San Jacinto Waste Pits, a Superfund site near Houston.
• The Trump Administration has issued fuel waivers for Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia to free up more fuel until the normal supplies can be restored.
More: As Hurricane Florence aims at Southeast, states worry about dam failures
More: ‘No money, no job’: Poverty forces people in path of Hurricane Florence to ride out storm
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Dane Evans, a fisherman, 36, of Swan Quarter, works on his 31-year-old fishing boat, Captain Drew, named after his six-year-old son, in the Swan Quarter harbor Sept. 12, 2018. As Hurricane Florence moves in, a storm surge of about three to six feet is expected for Swan Quarter, N.C., and around six feet for Ocracoke Island with 12-20 inches of rainfall for the entire area. Hyde county as well as several surrounding counties are under mandatory evacuation. Evans will be traveling to Washington, N.C. to stay with his girlfriend during the hurricane.
Mark Lewis, left, conservator, and Alisa Reynolds, associate registrar, secure the painting “The Shoppers” by William James Glackens at the Chrysler Museum of Art on Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2018 in Norfolk, Va. As category 4 Hurricane Florence approaches, staff members pull priceless paintings off the walls near windows and skylights on. Later on, the entrance to the museum will be sandbagged.
Marge Brown, 65, says goodbye to her father, George Brown, 90, before he is evacuated from a healthcare home in Morehead City, N.C., Sept. 12, 2018, as Hurricane Florence approaches the east coast. “I’d like to stay and see what happens. I’m 90 plus,” said Brown, a WWII veteran who says he’s survived a plane crash and severe burns from a laboratory fire where he once worked.
Meredith Reddick, left, and her father Gordon Reddick, owner of Redix store, talk about debris flying through the air and the need for plywood boards covering his windows, on Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2018. Reddick has used the same boards since 1993, and wrote names for each storm ever since.
Jon Wright, 63, of Wilmington, N.C., drills screws in plywood to cover windows at the Causeway Cafe in Wilmington, N.C., on Tuesday, September 11, 2018. Hurricane Florence is expected to arrive in Wilmington late Thursday night through Friday morning.
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