The destruction wreaked by Florence keeps growing as floodwaters keep rising. But the deadly storm has already shattered records and inflicted long-term chaos.
Here are the startling numbers behind Florence’s wrath — so far:
32 deaths
At least 31 people in the Carolinas and one person in Virginia have died in storm-related incidents. They include a 3-month-old baby and an 81-year-old man.
Several victims died on flooded roads.
“Remember: Most storm deaths occur from drowning in fresh water, often in cars,” North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said. “Don’t drive across standing or moving water.”
511,000
The number of customers without power Monday morning — according to the US Energy Information Administration. Of those, 486,000 were in North Carolina, 15,000 in South Carolina and 15,000 in Virginia. The number of people who lost electricity is far greater because a single customer can represent an entire home. By late Monday the number in North Carolina had dropped to 342,884, the North Carolina Department of Public Safety said.
10,000,000,000,000
Florence is expected to unload a total of 10 trillion gallons of rain on North Carolina, weather.us meteorologist Ryan Maue said. That’s enough to fill more than 15 million Olympic-size swimming pools.
2,600
At least 2,600 swift water rescues have been made by emergency workers in North Carolina, the state’s Department of Public Safety said.
That’s on top of the hundreds of rescues made by volunteer groups or individuals helping each other.
426
That’s how many flood victims had to be plucked by air in North Carolina, thanks to US Coast Guard helicopters. Also airlifted: 234 pets.
15,000 shelter evacuees
More than 15,000 people were staying in 150 emergency shelters in North Carolina on Sunday. “If those shelters fill up, we will establish more shelters,” Cooper said.
112 mph
That’s how hard the wind gusted in North Carolina’s New River Inlet. Wilmington International Airport and Fort Macon suffered gusts of 105 mph, the National Weather Service said.
35.93 inches
That’s the new North Carolina record for most rainfall from a single tropical system. It happened in the town of Elizabethtown.
34 inches
South Carolina also set a new record for rainfall in a single tropical system. The previous record,17.45 inches, was set during Tropical Storm Beryl in 1994. Florence dumped 34 inches of rainfall in Marion.
14,000 service members
The number of service members deployed include 7,500 from the US Coast Guard and 6,500 from the National Guard, the Federal Emergency Management Agency said.
