Mom and baby are among five killed in ‘biblical’ storm Florence as looters begin to raid abandoned homes and stores
A mother and her eight-month-old baby are among five people to have died as Tropical Storm Florence continues to batter North Carolina, with 18 trillion gallons of rain expected to fall in what the state’s governor called a ‘thousand-year’ event.
Lesha Murphy-Johnson and her baby Adam were trapped inside their home in Wilmington after a tree fell onto the roof at around 9.30am on Friday. Firefighters frantically tried to lift the tree so they could escape, but were unable to do so, kneeling in a circle of prayer after it became apparent there was nothing further they could do.
The baby’s father, Lawrence, was rescued and taken into an ambulance but police declared the mother and baby dead at 2.30pm. National Guard were then called in to remove the shattered tree. Murphy-Johnson’s death was confirmed to DailyMail.com by her ex-husband who was shown her ID by authorities and asked to identify her.
Separately, a woman died of a heart attack in Hampstead after medics were unable to reach her, officials announced on Friday afternoon.
In Kinston, two additional fatalities were reported. A 78-year-old man was electrocuted while trying to connect a generator extension cord in the rain, and a 77-year-old man was found dead outside of his home, possibly after having been blown over by the wind while checking on his dogs, officials said.
As of 8pm, Florence had been downgraded to a tropical storm with top sustained winds of 70mph, though the top inland gust recorded on Friday reached 105mph. Morehead City has seen the most rainfall so far, with 19.4 inches recorded since 2pm on Thursday.
The center of the storm crossed the state border into South Carolina on Friday evening, and was creeping west at three miles per hour 15 miles north of Myrtle Beach. It is expected to drift further inland across the Carolinas over the weekend before turning north along the Appalachian Mountains early next week.
Beyond Friday’s 11-feet storm surges and flash floods stands days more destruction and human suffering, warned North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper. ‘The sun rose this morning on an extremely dangerous situation and it’s getting worse,’ he told a press conference on Friday morning, branding the storm a ‘thousand-year rain event.’
The dire warnings were echoed by Wilmington Police Chief Ralph Evangelous, who told ABC News: ‘I see a biblical proportion flood event that’s going to occur. I see the beach communities being inundated with water and destruction that will be pretty, pretty epic in nature.’
It came after reports of looting in the town, with criminals taking advantage of abandoned homes, shops and homes. Dashaun Smith, 25, and Brandon Bellamy, 30, were charged with breaking into Tommy’s Mini Mart in Leland, according to WWAY News. Devin Harris, 21, and Justice Harris, 18, were charged with breaking and entering into a motor vehicle, the site reported.
