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North Carolina community devastated by flooding from 2 prior storms braces for Debby
As Tropical Storm Debby heads north, the heavy rain brings with it the potential for catastrophic flooding in parts of Georgia and North and South Carolina. And the threat of major inland flooding from these storms appears to be growing.
Hurricane Matthew sucker punched Lumberton, North Carolina, back in 2016. Nobody in that town, which is 80 miles inland, saw 20 inches of rain coming. The Lumber River crested 11 feet above flood stage and swamped the city.
Six-foot-three Fire Chief Jimmy Hunt recalled the water was up to his chest. Back in 2016, he rescued roughly 50 people, most of them elderly, from the floodwaters.
“It’s pretty horrific, what we’ve seen out there,” he told CBS News at the time. “Ten to 15 minutes from the time the water came over, it flooded their homes. …It was just survival at that time.”
Two years later, Hurricane Florence struck. Florence made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane and brought with it more than 35 inches of rain in parts of North and South Carolina over two days.
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“It really boggles the mind that this same thing can happen again,” said Brianna Goodwin, a community organizer in Lumberton with the Robeson County Church and Community Center.
“It was almost this feeling of being shell-shocked,” she said, recalling the 24 inches of rain that inundated the area. “Like, I see the flooding. I see the water. But is this real?”
Hurricane flooding ruined Sheila Moore’s house twice in Lumberton. “We literally lost everything,” she said.
She had redone the house after it was destroyed by Hurricane Matthew, only for Florence to wipe it out again in 2018.
“That was devastating,” Moore said.
Lumberton twice learned the hard way that today’s hurricanes can target communities far from the coast.
Warmer oceans fuel storms and the warmer atmosphere holds more moisture. That increased moisture leads to increased precipitation. According to recent modeling from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, rainfall rates will increase between 10-15% on average within about 62 miles of most storms as the Earth approaches 2 degrees Celsius of warming.
“Not only are storms getting more intense, slower moving and water-laden, but the populations are changing,” said Gavin Smith, a professor at North Carolina State who studies the impact of climate change on natural disasters. “And the people moving into these areas may not fully understand the impact.”
In 2016, more than 800 Lumberton residents were in shelters because of the flooding. There could be a lot more Lumbertons going forward. In roughly 30 years, storms could cause flooding damage to more than 19 million properties, both coastal and inland, according to analysis from CBS News and First Street. But only about 25% of those would have flood insurance.
Years after Matthew and Florence, Lumberton has only partially recovered, physically and psychologically.
“There’s something that can destroy your home, and that’s just not a very easy feeling to have,” Goodwin said.
NEW YORK — Former New York Gov. David Paterson and his stepson were attacked in New York City on Friday night, authorities said.
The incident occurred just before 9 p.m. on Second Avenue near East 96th Street on the Upper East Side, according to the New York City Police Department.
Police said officers were sent to the scene after an assault was reported. When officers arrived, police say they found a 20-year-old man suffering from facial injuries and a 70-year-old man who had head pain. Both victims were taken to a local hospital in stable condition.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the former governor said the two were attacked while “taking a walk around the block near their home by some individuals that had a previous interaction with his stepson.”
The spokesperson said that they were injured “but were able to fight off their attackers.”
Both were taken to Cornell Hospital “as a precaution,” he added.
Police said no arrests have been made and the investigation is ongoing.
The 70-year-old Paterson, a Democrat, served as governor from 2008 to 2010, stepping into the post after the resignation of Eliot Spitzer following his prostitution scandal. He made history at the time as the state’s first-ever Black and legally blind governor.
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A 17-year-old boy was critically injured and a person is in custody after a gunman opened fire on a SEPTA bus in North Philadelphia Friday evening, police said.
At around 6:15 p.m., Philadelphia police were notified about a shooting on a SEPTA bus traveling on Allegheny Avenue near 3rd and 4th streets in North Philadelphia, Inspector D F Pace told CBS News Philadelphia.
There were an estimated 30 people on the bus at the time of the shooting, Pace said, but only the 17-year-old boy was believed to have been shot. Investigators said they believe it was a targeted attack on the teenager and that he was shot in the back of the bus at close range.
According to Pace, the SEPTA bus driver alerted a control center about the shooting, which then relayed the message to Philadelphia police, who responded to the scene shortly.
Officers arrived at the scene and found at least one spent shell casing and blood on the bus, but no shooting victim, Pace said. Investigators later discovered the 17-year-old had been taken to Temple University Hospital where he is said to be in critical condition, according to police.
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Through their preliminary investigation, police learned those involved in the SEPTA shooting may have fled in a silver-colored Kia.
Authorities then found a car matching the description of the Kia speeding in the area and a pursuit began, Pace said. Police got help from a PPD helicopter as they followed the Kia, which ended up crashing at 5th and Greenwood streets in East Mount Airy. Pace said the Kia crashed into a parked car.
The driver of the crashed car ran away but police were still able to take them into custody, Pace said.
Investigators believe there was a second person involved in the shooting who ran from the car before it crashed. Police said they believe this person escaped near Allegheny Avenue and 4th Street, leaving a coat behind.
According to Pace, police also found a gun and a group of spent shell casings believed to be involved in the shooting in the same area.
“It’s very possible that there may have been a shooting inside the bus and also shots fired from outside of the bus toward the bus,” Pace said, “We’re still trying to piece all that together at this time.”
This is an active investigation and police are reviewing surveillance footage from the SEPTA bus.