With questions still swirling about its response last year to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, the Trump administration doesn’t appear to have taken any chances in its preparations for Hurricane Florence, which made landfall early Friday morning on Wrighstville Beach in North Carolina. It’s deployed three times as many search and rescue teams to the areas in Florence’s path as it had by the day Hurricane Harvey first made landfall off the Texas coast in…

JACKSONVILLE, N.C. (WTVD) — On Friday, dogs and cats in Jacksonville, North Carolina, were rescued from flooded homes and brought to safety. RELATED: Shelter animals evacuated ahead of Hurricane Florence Live video showed dogs being removed from a boat in the flood waters of Hurricane Florence. Later, the same rescue team saved cats who were stranded near a flooded home. The hurricane made landfall just before 7:30 Friday morning Category 1 storm. (Copyright ©2018 WTVD-TV….

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) — Michael Jordan, a native North Carolinian, is joining with the Charlotte Hornets and the NBA family to provide “necessary and immediate relief and support to those affected by Hurricane Florence.” Jordan is working with a number of community organizations such as the American Red Cross, Second Harvest Food Bank, and United Way. RELATED: Live Hurricane Florence coverage: Mother, infant among storm-related deaths Jordan released this statement regarding the hurricane. It’s truly…

This story was updated at 5 p.m. ET Florence was downgraded from a category 1 hurricane to a tropical storm, according to the National Hurricane Center’s 5 p.m. update. The storm dropped to sustained winds of 70 mph. A category 1 hurricane must have winds of at least 74 mph. The “erratic” storm made landfall Friday morning near Wrightsville Beach, as North Carolina first responders and the governor reported the first four deaths associated with…

By Kyle Morton, HighSchoolOT Multimedia Sports Journalist NC State men’s basketball coach Kevin Keatts offered support for the communities being heavily affected by Hurricane Florence via Twitter Friday, promising to share details on how he and his program will help those affected “later.” The second-year coach of the Wolfpack came to Raleigh in the spring of 2017 immediately from UNC Wilmington, where he coached from 2014-2017. He emphasized the importance of the coast to him…

President Donald Trump is planning to visit areas affected by Hurricane Florence next week, though his exact plans are not yet finalized. “The President is expected to travel to areas affected by the storm early to middle of next week, once it is determined his travel will not disrupt any rescue or recovery efforts. We will keep you posted when we have details,” White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said Friday. Hurricane Florence is bringing…

Thousands of North Carolina storm evacuees are physically safe from the effects of Hurricane Florence, but their hearts and minds are focused on what’s happening to their homes and possessions under assault on the coast. Many coastal residents heeded the evacuation orders and fled in advance of the arrival of Florence, with some ending up in the more than 200 emergency shelters set up statewide. At the emergency shelter at Garner High School, evacuees kept…

Several rivers in North Carolina overflowed Sunday morning as Florence continued to dump rain across the southeastern part of the state and into South Carolina. None of the major rivers in the Triangle — Crabtree, Marsh, Swift or Walnut creeks — were on the verge of flooding, according to the The National Weather Service’s reports early Sunday. Crabtree Creek at Old Wake Forest Road, for example, had fallen to 9.48 feet after hitting 11.6 feet…