Latest: Tornado waning issued for northeastern Wayne County

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Headlines:

  • Officials say at least 17 people in the Carolinas have been killed in the storm, including 11 in North Carolina and five in South Carolina, according to the Associated Press.
  • Rescuers are searching for a 1-year-old swept away by floodwaters in Union County.
  • A large portion of Interstate 95, from Johnston County to the South Carolina line, remains closed as of Monday because of flooding. | I-40 from Wilmington to I-95 also still closed.
  • New Bern hit hard with 30 roads still unpassable, 4,200 homes and more than 300 commercial buildings damaged, 6,000 customers without power and 1,200 residents in shelters

Map: Videos, images | Shelters, roads by county | Images: Florence’s impact

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Monday, Sept. 17

6:02 a.m.: Another tornado warning has been issued for Wayne County until 6:30 a.m. A tornado has been confirmed near Fremont.

5:50 a.m.: A search that began Sunday night in Union County is likely to continue today after a 1-year-old child in a car trapped by floodwaters from Richardson Creek was swept out of the vehicle along with the baby’s mother. Law enforcement authorities rescued the woman but have not yet been able to locate the child.

5:30 a.m.: Chapel Hill-Carrboro schools will now operate on a two-hour delay Monday due to the significant overnight rainfall and temporary road closures.

4:19 a.m.: A tornado warning for Wayne County has been canceled. Tornado watch for Sampson and Cumberland counties issued.

3:57 a.m.: A tornado warning has been issued for Wayne County. Residents in the area were advised to find shelter or retreat to a secured space in their homes

Sunday, Sept. 16

11:00 p.m.: Wake County officials plan to close its three evacuation shelters on Monday. The state Division of Emergency Management on Sunday began moving evacuees from Garner, Knightdale and Southeast Raleigh high schools to state-run shelters at the Friday Center in Chapel Hill and the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Winston-Salem.

Medically fragile evacuees from the coast will be transported to the appropriate shelters Monday once the necessary preparations have been taken. Only a few Wake County residents remain in the shelters, and the county will work with them on an individual basis to provide the appropriate housing.

The shelters at Heritage, Middle Creek and Sanderson high schools were closed Sunday as part of a consolidation effort.

The death toll from Hurricane Florence and its remnants has risen to 17 as officials say a 3-month-old died in North Carolina when a tree landed on a mobile home.

Gaston County manager Earl Mathers said in an email to commissioners the tree fell on a mobile home Sunday in Dallas, about 240 miles (386 kilometers) west of where Hurricane Florence made landfall Friday in Wrightsville Beach.

County spokesman James McConnell confirmed to The Associated Press that officials believe the tree fell because of the rain and wind from the storm’s remnants.