Florence kills 5, including infant, in North Carolina, officials say

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At least five people, including a mother and her infant, have died in North Carolina as Tropical Storm Florence slowly moved from the Tar Heel State into South Carolina, officials said Friday.

After coming ashore in North Carolina as a Category 1 hurricane, Florence was downgraded to a tropical storm Friday afternoon and trudged into South Carolina as night came.

Two people died in Wilmington after a tree fell on their house, the city’s police department said.

“WPD can confirm the first two fatalities of Hurricane #Florence in Wilmington. A mother and infant were killed when a tree fell on their house,” police tweeted Friday afternoon. “The father was transported to (New Hanover Regional Medical Center) with injuries.”

Emergency responders pray in front of a home after removing bodies that had been trapped by a fallen tree.

The hospital said it has received three injured patients.

In the town of Hampstead, emergency responders going to a call for cardiac arrest Friday morning found their path blocked by downed trees. When they got to the home, the woman was deceased, Chad McEwen, assistant county manager for Pender County, said.

The fourth person who died was a man in Lenoir County who was hooking up a generator, Gov. Roy Cooper’s office said. Another man in the county who was checking on his dogs outside was killed in what his family thought was a wind-related death Friday morning, emergency officials said.

Florence was inching along Friday night, trapping people in flooded homes and promising days of destruction and human suffering.

Storm surges, punishing winds and rain are turning some towns into rushing rivers – and the storm is expected to crawl over parts of the Carolinas into the weekend, pounding some of the same areas over and over.

Michael Nelson floats in a boat made from a metal tub and fishing floats after the Neuse River went over its banks and flooded his street during Hurricane Florence September 13, 2018 in New Bern, North Carolina. Some parts of New Bern could be flooded with a possible 9-foot storm surge as the Category 2 hurricane approaches the United States.

Related article Scores of people in New Bern, North Carolina, have been rescued

Billy Sample, a resident stuck in the town of Carolina Beach, North Carolina, said Friday night: “The height of the storm didn’t feel as bad as it is now. The house is shaking back and forth much more violently than when the eyewall came through.”

Sample said that when he looked outside of his house, which is about 1,000 yards from the beach, he saw the rain pooling up on the street and what looked like storm surge coming up the road.

In the besieged city of New Bern, rescuers had plucked more than 200 people from rising waters by midmorning Friday, but about 150 more had to wait as conditions worsened and a storm surge reached 10 feet, officials said. That number was down to 40 later in the day.

Follow the storm’s path

Key developments

? Florence’s location: By 11 p.m., Florence’s center was moving west-southwest through South Carolina at 5 mph, with maximum sustained winds of 65 mph. The center was about 20 miles north-northeast of Myrtle Beach. Gradual weakening was expected Friday night, the hurricane center said.

? Prolonged, dangerous winds: Tropical storm-force winds extend 175 miles from Florence’s center. The storm is expected to lumber into far southeastern North Carolina and eastern South Carolina through Saturday, punishing the area with rain and damaging winds.

? No electricity: There were 788,916 homes and businesses without power Friday night, according to the North Carolina Emergency Management agency.

? Flooding for miles: Upto 40 inches of rain, and storm surges pushing water inland and not allowing rivers to drain, “will produce catastrophic flash flooding and prolonged significant river flooding,” the National Hurricane Center says. “You’re going to have flooding miles and miles inland,” the center’s director, Ken Graham, said. Some areas of South Carolina could see rainfall totals of up to 15 inches, forecasters said.

RIVER BEND, NC - SEPTEMBER 13: The Trent River (background) overflows its banks and floods a neighborhood during Hurricane Florence September 13, 2018 in River Bend, North Carolina. Some parts of River Bend and the neighboring New Bern could be flooded with a possible 9-foot storm surge as the Category 2 hurricane approaches the United States. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Related article How to help those impacted by Hurricane Florence

? Record gusts: Wilmington’s airport recorded a 105-mph wind gust – the fastest measured since Hurricane Helene hit the city in 1958, the National Hurricane Center said. Later Friday, a wind gust of 68 mph was measured at a station in Wrightsville Beach, near Wilmington.

? Nuclear plant shutdown: A nuclear power plant in Brunswick, North Carolina, shut down operations because of the storm, the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission said on Twitter. “Plant procedures call for the reactors to be shut down before the anticipated onset of hurricane-force winds,” agency spokesman Joey Ledford told CNN. Federal officials had said midweek they weren’t concerned about that facility or five other nuclear plants in the storm’s path, calling them “hardened.” Expert scientists, however, had said they were worried about Brunswick because of scant public information about its readiness.

Maura Walbourne sits in the front of a canoe as she looks inside her flooded home in Conway, South Carolina, on Sunday, September 23.

A home in Conway, South Carolina, is inundated by floodwaters on Wednesday, September 26, one week after Hurricane Florence.

Taylor James navigates floodwaters in a boat in front of Trinity United Methodist Church in Conway, South Carolina on Wednesday, September 26.

Floodwaters from the Neuse River cover part of Kinston, North Carolina, on Monday, September 24.

Brian Terry looks at the floodwaters outside his home in Brittons Neck, South Carolina, on Saturday, September 22.

An officer with the South Carolina State Highway Patrol marks the water level of Highway 22 on Saturday.

Avery Singleton takes a boat to Pine Grove Baptist Church in Brittons Neck, South Carolina, on Saturday.

President Donald Trump hands out food at Temple Baptist Church, where food and other supplies were being distributed Wednesday, September 19, as part of Hurricane Florence recovery efforts in New Bern, North Carolina.

Trump shakes hands as he visits the New Bern church on Wednesday.

A woman in Currie, North Carolina, sits on a damaged road surrounded by floodwaters on Tuesday, September 18.

Ronnie Gainey pulls an electric guitar from his flooded home in Darlington, South Carolina.

Two people near Wallace, South Carolina, sit on the top of a vehicle that was caught in flooding on Monday, September 17.

Rescue personnel help people evacuate a flooded area in Spring Lake, North Carolina.

Floodwaters surround a trailer in Pollocksville, North Carolina, on September 17.

Pollocksville resident Willie Schubert cradles his dog, Lucky, atop a stranded van as they await help from the US Coast Guard on September 17.

Floodwaters are seen on North Carolina's Emerald Isle on Sunday, September 16.

Chicken farm buildings are inundated with floodwaters near Trenton, North Carolina, on September 16.

Panicked dogs left caged by their owner are rescued by volunteer Ryan Nichols in Leland, North Carolina, on September 16.

A church is partially submerged in Richlands, North Carolina, on September 16.

Coast Guard member Blake Gwinn helps Josephine Horne escape her flooded home in Columbus County, North Carolina, on September 16.

A large tree lies on top of a mobile home in Newport, North Carolina, on September 16.

John Hendren leads horses to safety after the US Coast Guard helped cut up a fallen tree that had trapped the animals in a flooded field in Lumberton, North Carolina.

Tony Thompson stands in the wreckage of his mobile home as Florence moved inland over Newport, North Carolina, on September 16.

A woman and a young girl walk down a flooded road in Pollocksville on September 16.

Floodwaters inundate parts of Trenton, North Carolina, on September 16.

Members of the Coast Guard help a stranded motorist in floodwaters in Lumberton, North Carolina, on September 16.

A man peers from his flooded home in Lumberton on September 16.

Members of a search-and-rescue team help an elderly resident onto a bus as they evacuate an assisted living facility in Fayetteville, North Carolina, on Saturday, September 15.

A member of the US Coast Guard checks on homes after Florence hit Newport, North Carolina, on September 15 .

A neighbor takes photos of a boat smashed against a car garage near the Neuse River in New Bern on Saturday.

A truck is submerged in floodwaters in Jacksonville, North Carolina, on Saturday.

Joseph Eudi surveys debris and storm damage at a home in New Bern, North Carolina, on September 15.

A woman calls for help at her flooded residence as Florence brought large amounts of rain and floodwaters to Lumberton, North Carolina, on Saturday.

People wait in line to fill gas cans at a gas station that was damaged when Florence hit Wilmington, North Carolina, on Saturday.

A baseball field on Mill Creek Road is filled with floodwater after Florence hit Newport, North Carolina, on Saturday.

Mike Pollack searches for a drain in the yard of his flooded waterfront home in Wilmington, North Carolina, on Saturday.

Floodwaters from Florence inundate the town of Engelhard, North Carolina, on Saturday.

Ray Baca of Wilmington, North Carolina, checks his phone as he sits on a bench.

A sailboat lifted by storm surge leans against a building at Bridgepointe Marina in New Bern, North Carolina, on Saturday, a day after Florence's landfall.

Kim Adams wades through floodwaters surrounding her home in Southport, North Carolina, on September 15.

Volunteers help rescue three children from a flooded home in James City, North Carolina, on Friday, September 14.

Russ Lewis covers his eyes from wind and sand in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, on September 14.

Volunteers help rescue people from their flooded homes in New Bern on September 14.

Waves crash into the Second Avenue Pier in Myrtle Beach on September 14.

The storm leaves a tree toppled in New Bern on September 14.

Soldiers from the North Carolina National Guard reinforce a low-lying area with sandbags in Lumberton, North Carolina, on September 14.

Robert Simmons Jr. and his kitten are rescued from floodwaters in New Bern on September 14.

Teddie Davis checks on one of the New Bern's signature bear statues toppled by the storm on September 14. Another one of the bears, in the background, ended up in the middle of a downtown street.

Rising waters threaten downtown Washington, North Carolina, as the Pamlico River overruns its banks on September 14.

An abandoned van sits on a flooded road near New Bern on September 14.

A boat sits wedged in trees in Oriental, North Carolina, near New Bern, on September 14.

Members of a Federal Emergency Management Agency team from California search a flooded neighborhood in Fairfield Harbour, North Carolina, on September 14.

Rescue workers attempt to remove a giant tree that fell onto a house in Wilmington, North Carolina, on September 14. Two people died when the tree collapsed -- among the first storm-related deaths due to Hurricane Florence.

Electric poles that snapped in half sway from their wires in Wilmington on September 14.

Lee Casteen, left, and Try Hinton use a chainsaw to clear a tree blocking a road in Wilmington on September 14.

Rescue workers help a woman and her dog from a flooded house in James City on September 14.

Michael Nelson floats in a boat fashioned from a metal tub and fishing floats after the Neuse River flooded September 13 in New Bern.

Powerful winds and waves destroy portions of a boat dock and boardwalk in Atlantic Beach on September 13.

Residents wade through streets flooded by the Neuse River in New Bern on September 13.

Astronaut Alexander Gerst posted this photo on Twitter of Hurricane Florence saying, "It's chilling, even from space." Gerst is aboard the International Space Station.

Evacuees take refuge at Burgaw Middle School in Burgaw, North Carolina, on September 12.

Marge Brown says goodbye to her father, George Brown, before his evacuation from a health care home in Morehead City, North Carolina, on September 12.

Workers take boats out of the water in Wanchese Harbor in Wanchese, North Carolina, on September 12 as the Outer Banks prepares for Florence.

Astronaut Gerst also posted this photo to Twitter on September 12, saying, "Watch out, America! #HurricaneFlorence is so enormous, we could only capture her with a super wide-angle lens from the @Space_Station, 400 km directly above the eye. Get prepared on the East Coast, this is a no-kidding nightmare coming for you."

Jeff Bryant, left, and James Evans board the windows of a business in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, on Tuesday, September 11.

People fill sandbags in Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina, on September 11.

Both lanes of Interstate 26 flow westbound in North Charleston, South Carolina, toward Columbia as people evacuate inland on September 11.

Laura Gretch holds Frances, a Chihuahua mix, as she helps unload cats and dogs arriving at the Humane Rescue Alliance in Washington from Norfolk, Virginia, on September 11.

Veronica Gallardo and Robert Kelly place a plastic tarp over an American flag inside the Casemate Museum at Fort Monroe in Hampton, Virginia, on September 11.

A man eyes a store's bare bread shelves as people stock up on food in Myrtle Beach on September 11.

Chuck Ledford, left, watches cartoons on a phone with his daughter Misty as they seek shelter at Emma B. Trask Middle School in Wilmington, North Carolina, on Tuesday, September 11.

Scott Fleenor, bottom, and Jeremiah Trendell board over the windows of a business in Myrtle Beach.

In pictures: Hurricane Florence and its aftermath

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Rescues and narrow escapes

Rainfall totals for the storm will be similar to those in hurricanes Dennis and Floyd in 1999, the National Weather Service’s Chris Wamsley said

“The only difference is, back then it was within 14 days,” he said. With Florence, “we’re looking at the same amount of rainfall in three days.”

One of the rescuers in New Bern was Jason Weinmann, a retired Marine who has a military troop transport vehicle he bought at a government auction.

He picked up 10 people on one run and took them to a shelter. Jennifer Morales, 20, said there was 3 feet of water in her home.

“It was pretty bad. We didn’t know where to go,” she said.

Why Florence is extremely dangerous

Another woman who was rescued by another group in New Bern told CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360?” that she and her family thought they would be safe in their brick home and heard the storm had been downgraded from a Category 4.

“About 11:30, 12 (midnight), the water came into the house. It came in slowly but then it just steady, just kept rising,” Annazette Riley-Cromartie said.

She, her husband and three children went up into the attic for a while, but the winds howled and the family descended to an upper floor bedroom.

As they waited for emergency workers, they heard neighbors calling for help.

Her husband went to see if he could assist them but the water was chest high, she said.

“It’s the worst feeling in the world to hear people yelling for help and you can’t do anything,” she said.

Eventually a citizen rescue crew came with a boat.

An area in downtown Wilmington, North Carolina, usually meant for street parking and relaxing on park benches is inundated by water from the swollen Cape Fear River.

Swift-water rescue teams from out of state helped local rescuers evacuate people whenever conditions allowed. One team from Maryland helped with about 40 rescues in New Bern starting Thursday, member Mitchell Rusland said.

In Belhaven, the Pungo River roared into town, crashing up against homes at a waist-high level and higher late Thursday and early Friday, video from Amy Johnson showed.

A terrifying night

In Morehead City, Brooke Kittrell rode out the storm Thursday and Friday with her boyfriend aboard their docked boat, hoping it didn’t break loose and slam something.

She succeeded – staying awake all night, retying broken dock lines in howling winds. But there were times she thought they wouldn’t survive, she told CNN.

A boat is wedged in trees Friday in Oriental, North Carolina, in a photo from Angie Propst.

“I honestly cried,” Kittrell said. “I was born and raised here and been through every storm the last 30 years, but this one seems to be doing more damage than we expected.”

By Friday morning, the shore was flooded, and buildings were damaged, in video she put up on Facebook.

In Jacksonville, North Carolina, city officials posted photos of toppled gas pumps and a downed trees early Friday, warning residents to take shelter and avoid roadways.

Officials in several states have declared states of emergency, including in the Carolinas, Georgia, Virginia and Maryland, where coastal areas are still recovering from summer storms.

High winds and a storm surge from then-Hurricane Florence hit Swansboro, North Carolina, on Friday.

Sign up for Florence alerts

Florence is one of four named storms in the Atlantic. According to the National Hurricane Center, the storm will travel through upstate South Carolina, be downgraded to a tropical depression, then turn north toward the Ohio Valley.

As it moves near Ohio and West Virginia, it will become a remnant low. Then it will swing to the northeast in the middle of next week on a path to the Atlantic Ocean near Nova Scotia, where it will be an extratropical low with gale-force winds.

CNN’s Judson Jones, Tina Burnside, Kaylee Hartung, Chuck Johnston, Brian Todd, Paul P. Murphy, John Berman, Michelle Krupa, Dianne Gallagher, Marnie Hunter, Dakin Andone, Amanda Jackson, Holly Yan and Michael Guy contributed to this report.