Eva Gould 
September 17, 2018

Hurricane Florence Takes On The Carolina’s


On Friday September 14, Mandatory evacuations began in North, and South Carolina as hurricane Florence barreled towards the coast,  but many residents decided to stay and try to stick out the storm. Hurricane Florence was originally a category five hurricane with a predicted thirty inches of rain. If everyone was aware that the storm was coming then why didn’t everyone evacuate? By September 17, they have already seen up to three feet of rain in some parts of North and South Carolina, with a death toll of 32 people.

Twenty five people from North Carolina are dead with 6 people in South Carolina and one in Virginia. About 488,551 people in North Carolina and 16,385 in South Carolina still don’t have electricity. There have also been at least 1000 water rescues in North Carolina by Monday. With so many people that chose not to evacuate when given the chance this has put a major strain on the emergency rescue teams, putting their lives and the lives of the first responders in danger. Not to mention the major financial strain that it causes.

In a tweet President Trump states, “FEMA, First Responders and Law Enforcement are working really hard on hurricane Florence. As the storm begins to finally recede, they will kick into an even higher gear. Very professional!” Although President Trump is supportive of the efforts that the first responders and FEMA are making, the situation might have been more manageable if more people had taken the warnings seriously and evacuated when instructed to do so.

Even though hurricane Florence is starting to slowly move out after around 30 inches of rain in some parts, it will still cause more flooding as the rivers rise and it will bring the rain with it as it heads North. Now the challenge becomes trying to get electricity, food, and cleanup supplies to the residents in need and then to start the rebuilding process.