By Holly Yan, Susannah Cullinane, and Cassie Spodak
17 September 2018
WILMINGTON, North Carolina (CNN) – Even as Florence leaves the Carolinas, the floodwaters and death toll keep rising.
The storm once known as Hurricane Florence has killed 20 people, trapped hundreds more and cut off an entire city. But forecasters say the worst flooding is yet to come.
“This is a monumental disaster for our state,” North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said Monday. “This is an epic storm that is still continuing because the rivers are still rising.”
Residential streets have turned into rivers. Parts of freeways — dotted with rescue boats — have morphed into free-flowing waterways.And Florence, now a tropical depression, will probably dump another 2 to 5 inches of rain Monday on central and southeastern North Carolina, CNN meteorologist Michael Guy said.

Two people in a canoe paddle through a street that was flooded by Hurricane Florence on 16 September 2018, north of New Bern, North Carolina. Photo: Jim Lo Scalzo / EPA-EFE / REX / Shutterstock

But even when the rain lets up, don’t be fooled. The big concern now is river water gushing downstream, further deluging flooded cities.”Catastrophic and historic river flooding will continue for days across portions of the Carolinas,” the National Weather Service said.Now, there are fears that the death toll will keep climbing. Authorities reported two more deaths on Monday, both in North Carolina.The body of an elderly man was found by his submerged car Monday morning, the Union County Sheriff’s Office said.And 1-year-old Kaiden Lee-Welch, who was swept away by rushing waters Sunday, was found dead Monday, also in Union County.

Iva Williamson, 4, peers behind her as she joins neighbors and pets in fleeing rising flood waters from Hurricane Florence, on 16 September 2018, in Leland, North Carolina. Photo: Jonathan Drake / Reuters 

“There will be flooding like we’ve never seen before”

That was the message Monday from Wilmington Mayor Bill Saffo, whose city is so deeply submerged that no one could get in Sunday. [more]

Florence leaves ‘a monumental disaster’ in the Carolinas — with more trouble to come