Millions of people in the path of Florence are hunkering down Friday as the monster storm pummels North and South Carolina, bringing catastrophic inundations and forceful, destructive winds. Here are snapshots of people struggling to cope with the slow-grinding storm. SEVEN MONTHS PREGNANT AND ‘SCARED TO DEATH’ As Glorious Elting stood on her front porch Thursday, it suddenly got very dark and the wind started howling. It hadn’t occurred to her until then how much…

Final preparations as Hurricane Florence arrives Herbert Robles and his assistants did last minute work on his home in Myrtle Beach, SC along the Golden mile on Friday, Sept. 14, 2018, as Hurricane Florence approached. They checked on the house after an alarm sounded.

An ominous tweet appeared on a historic North Carolina community’s Twitter feed about 2 a.m. Friday. It came as rivers swelled, tides crested and the rain wouldn’t stop. And that’s when people found themselves trapped in their homes as the water rose. “WE ARE COMING TO GET YOU,” the tweet said. “You may need to move up to the second story, or to your attic, but WE ARE COMING TO GET YOU.” More than 360…

Final preparations as Hurricane Florence arrives Herbert Robles and his assistants did last minute work on his home in Myrtle Beach, SC along the Golden mile on Friday, Sept. 14, 2018, as Hurricane Florence approached. They checked on the house after an alarm sounded.

Especially during extreme weather, television meteorologists get lots of attention. But behind every successful TV weather report there’s a quiet force of 20,000 dedicated amateurs. Meet the “weather weenies,” a group of volunteers who diligently empty their rain gauges and record the results each morning. They’re participating in the national Community Collaborative Rain, Hail & Snow Network, which goes by the acronym CoCoRaHS. The data these volunteers collect help fill in holes in the official…

WACO, Texas — Duke has had to make a lot of adjustments while getting ready to play Baylor. Before leaving North Carolina a day early for Texas to get out ahead of Hurricane Florence, and changing their final preparations for Saturday’s game, the Blue Devils were already getting quarterback Quentin Harris ready for his first career start in place of injured Daniel Jones . They also will be without all-ACC cornerback Mark Gilbert, whose season…

The Carteret County Humane Society was taking on water. Its roof was collapsing. The shelter needed immediate help to evacuate 123 dogs and cats along with three staff members, shelter manager Cassandra Tupaj told The News & Observer at 7:30 p.m. Friday. The Cajun Navy said on Twitter Friday night that it had assisted in evacuating the animals and staff members and that the shelter was clear. Shelter manager Cassandra Tupaj could not immediately be…

More than half a million customers are without power in North Carolina as Tropical Storm Florence brings heavy, life-threatening floods to the coast.As of 6:15 p.m., Friday, 771,657 people were without power. VIEW THE OUTAGE MAP BELOW. More outage information here Most of the outages are in Beaufort, Bladen, Brunswick, Carteret, Columbus Craven, Duplin, New Hanover, Robeson, Sampson, Wake, Wayne, Pamlico, Pender and Onslow counties near the coast. RELATED: What to do if you lose…