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Florence leaves unprecedented damage; at least 32 killed

Published  September 19, 2018 4:21pm EDT
Weather
FOX 5 Atlanta

GASTON COUNTY, NC (AP) - The death toll attributed to Florence stands at 32, with 24 of those being in North Carolina and at least six reported in South Carolina.

South Carolina Highway Patrol says a pickup truck was traveling west on Interstate 20 in Kershaw County on Sunday morning when it went off the roadway. Troopers said the truck struck an overpass support beam, and the driver died at the scene.

Kershaw County Coroner David West said the driver's name has not been released because all relatives have not yet been notified.

Heavy rain has fallen on portions of central and eastern South Carolina after former hurricane-turned-Tropical Depression Florence moved onshore.

RELATED: North Carolina city, Wilmington, cut off by floodwaters

As the death toll from Florence grew and hundreds of people were pulled from flooded homes, North Carolina braced for catastrophic, widespread river flooding.

Florence weakened to a tropical depression early Sunday after blowing ashore as a hurricane with 90 mph (145 kph) winds on Friday, Florence was still spinning slowly atop the Carolinas as it pulled warm water from the ocean and hurled it onshore.

The storm's death toll climbed to 14 when a man drowned after a pickup truck flipped into a drainage ditch along a flooded road in South Carolina. Earlier, authorities said two people died from inhaling carbon monoxide from a generator in their home.

READ MORE: Florence likely to expose gaps in flood insurance

Authorities said the storm did not cause some other deaths that occurred during Florence in North Carolina: a woman who died of undetermined causes in a shelter, a woman who suffered a heart attack at home during the storm, and a couple whose apparent murder-suicide was investigated during hurricane conditions in Otway.

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The death toll attributed to Florence stands at 19, including 13 in North Carolina and six in South Carolina.

  • 30-year-old Rhonda R. Hartley died early Sunday after driving a pickup truck into standing water near Gilbert, South Carolina, losing control and hitting a tree, according to the South Carolina Department of Public Safety.
  •  23-year-old Michael Dalton Prince died Sunday after the truck he was riding in lost control on a flooded two-lane road in Georgetown County, South Carolina, said Coroner Kenny Johnson. The driver and another passenger escaped after the truck landed upside down in a flooded ditch.
  • 63-year-old Mark Carter King and 61-year-old Debra Collins Rion of Loris, South Carolina, died of carbon monoxide poisoning from running a generator indoors, authorities said
  • A husband and wife died in a Fayetteville, North Carolina, house fire Friday
  • A mother and her 8-month-old child were killed when a massive tree crushed their brick house Friday in Wilmington, North Carolina
  • An 81-year-old man died while trying to evacuate Wayne County, North Carolina, on Friday
  • A 78-year-old man was electrocuted in the rain while trying to connect extension cords for a generator in Lenoir County, North Carolina
  • A 77-year old man died after he went outside to check on his hunting dogs and was blown down by strong winds
  • Three people died in Duplin County, North Carolina, because of flash flooding and swift water on roadways
  •  61-year-old Amber Dawn Lee died late Friday when the vehicle she was driving struck a tree near the town of Union, South Carolina
  • South Carolina Highway Patrol says a pickup truck was traveling west on Interstate 20 in Kershaw County on Sunday morning when it went off the roadway. Troopers say the truck struck an overpass support beam, and the driver died at the scene.
  • A three-month-old child died in Gaston County, after a tree fell on the family's mobile home in Dallas, NC.
  • According to the Union County Sheriff's Office, a motorist driving on Landsford Road Monday morning saw a vehicle off the road half way submerged. The driver then saw a body floating in the water near the car. The deceased is an elderly man. 
  • A 14-month-old boy died after being swept up in flood waters in Union County Sunday, according to the sheriff's office

More about Florence:

For more information on Florence, visit the FOX 46 resource center. 
 
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AP writers Alex Derosier in Fayetteville, Jonathan Drew in Wilmington;  Emery P. Dalesio in New Bern, North Carolina; Denise Lavoie and Sarah Rankin in Richmond, Virginia; Gary Robertson in Raleigh, North Carolina; Meg Kinnard in Columbia, South Carolina; Seth Borenstein and Michael Biesecker in Washington; Lolita C. Baldor at the Pentagon; Martha Waggoner in Raleigh, North Carolina; Jennifer Kay in Miami; Russ Bynum in Columbia, South Carolina; Pete Iacobelli in Clemson, South Carolina, and Jay Reeves in Atlanta contributed to this report.

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