More help is on the way for Carolinas residents affected by Hurricane Florence. Denny’s announced Wednesday that its Mobile Relief Diner is heading to the Carolinas. The “53-foot mobile kitchen will travel to areas impacted to serve free meals to those in need,” the national diner chain said in a news release. According to Denny’s, the truck will “serve freshly-cooked pancakes and bacon, along with coffee and other refreshments to local residents, first responders and…

As some rivers around the state crest and begin to slowly recede, officials warn the danger is far from over and are urging frustrated evacuees not to return home just yet. In some good news, the Town of Topsail Beach announced it will be open to property owners and residents ONLY on Thursday beginning at 9 a.m. The only access will be through the swing bridge in Surf City. People must have proof of residency….

By Kasey Cunningham, WRAL reporter Southport, N.C. — Beach towns are slowly reopening to residents, but most are still closed to tourists following Hurricane Florence. Some roads in Brunswick County are completely washed out, including Bethel Road, which is the only way in and out for Southport residents. A path carved out in the brush, built with a few wood planks, is now the only available route. For the first time since Florence ravaged the…

North Carolina football players will donate meal money to buy supplies for victims of Hurricane Florence, UNC coach Larry Fedora said. The supplies will go to North Carolina residents in the eastern part of the state who were hit hardest by the storm. Bobby Hundley, a UNC athletics spokesperson, said 85 players will donate $15, the per diem each player would get after their game against Pitt on Saturday. Together they’ll donate $1,275. “It’s kind…

Some North Carolina school districts remain closed after Hurricane Florence, leaving the prospect of make-up days looming. State law requires schools to be in session for 185 days a year. But some state leaders want to ease statewide attendance requirements for counties affected by the storm. NC Schools Superintendent Mark Johnson and House Speaker Tim Moore this week said they hope to exempt school districts hit hard by Hurricane Florence from the state’s calendar requirements….

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (WTVD) — Thousands of people are still being housed in shelters across our state and many like Tabitha Williams of Morehead City don’t know when they might be able to go home. “It’s just devastation back home,” she told ABC11. Williams and her four daughters, all younger than 8, left their coastal town as Hurricane Florence was barreling toward the Carolina coast. They’ve been in shelters ever since and are now at…

By Cullen Browder, WRAL anchor/reporter Morrisville, N.C. — Dozens of volunteers loaded boxes of donations into RDU International Airport’s general aviation wing for private pilots to take to areas affected by Florence. The project, A Just Florence Recovery, has become part of Operation Airdrop, a Texas-based nonprofit created to help Texas residents in places hurt by Hurricane Harvey last year. In and around North Carolina, more than 100 volunteers joined A Just Florence Recovery in…

By Kendra Pierre-Louis, New York Times The record-breaking rains that started with Hurricane Florence are continuing to strain North Carolina’s hog lagoons. Because of the storm, at least 77 lagoons in the state have either released pig waste into the environment or are at imminent risk of doing so, according to data issued Tuesday by the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality. That tally more than doubled from the day before, when the department’s count…