Hurricane Florence stalls over the Carolinas, unleashing historic floods
The storm weakened before landfall but its slow crawl dumped feet of rain, causing catastrophic inland flooding.
Hurricane Florence made landfall on the North Carolina coast this September and then stalled, unleashing historic flooding as it crawled across the Carolinas and dumped staggering amounts of rain over several days.
Although Florence weakened from a major hurricane to a Category 1 before coming ashore, its slow movement proved just as dangerous as high winds. Some areas recorded more than 30 inches of rain, shattering state records, and rivers swelled far beyond their banks for days after the storm's centre passed.
The flooding cut off towns, submerged homes and highways, and forced thousands of rescues and evacuations. Dozens of people died, and the economic toll ran into the tens of billions of dollars as communities across the region were inundated.
Florence was a textbook example of a growing hazard: the slow-moving, rain-heavy storm. Meteorologists noted that warmer oceans and a moister atmosphere allow storms to carry and release more water, and that stalling systems can turn a manageable wind event into a prolonged flooding disaster.
The storm underscored a shift in how forecasters and officials think about hurricane risk, with inland freshwater flooding now rivalling storm surge and wind as a leading cause of death and damage. For the Carolinas, Florence was a punishing reminder that the rain can be the deadliest part of a hurricane long after the winds have died down.