This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Tropical storm Florence moved slowly down the Carolina coast on Saturday, as officials forecast catastrophic flooding in the region and said at least 11 people had been killed by the giant weather system that is set to plague the area for days ahead.

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The storm battered the coastline throughout Friday and Saturday with hurricane-force winds and as much as 2ft (60cm) of rain in some areas of North Carolina, breaking state records. With many areas already flooded by seawater, forecasts warned of a period of extensive flooding around the region’s winding network of rivers and creeks.

North Carolina’s governor, Roy Cooper, labelled the storm “an uninvited brute who doesn’t want to leave”. He added, with reference to the storm’s glacial 2mph progress: “We know we’re in for a long haul here. But I think we’re ready.”

The White House declared a major disaster in the state and said Donald Trump would visit storm-affected areas next week.

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In New Bern, a city that backs on to the Neuse river in North Carolina, rescue operations continued on Saturday as significant flooding destroyed homes and some of the city’s historic colonial-era statues. More than 360 people were rescued from the flooding by crews in boats, some flown in from New York and other areas of the US.

Florence knocked out power to close to a million households in the Carolinas, with some areas not expecting to regain electricity for days.

As the storm hovered north of Myrtle Beach in South Carolina, residents in the city of Conway, a few miles from the storm’s eye, worried that the Waccamaw river which surrounds the city would soon burst its banks.

By Saturday morning a normally tranquil stream known as Crab Tree Swamp was flowing fast and was just a foot from engulfing a bridge which provides north-south access to Conway. David Hudson, a 29-year-old road construction worker who lives in Conway, had stopped his car on the bridge to film the water flow.

“I’m surprised this is that high,” Hudson said. “There’s usually walking trails down here. They’re underwater now.

“In about four days when all the water comes down from North Carolina, that’s when we’re going to have a problem.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A tree misses a house by inches in Wilmington, North Carolina. Photograph: Khushbu Shah/The Guardian

In downtown Myrtle Beach, branches from palm trees lined the main street. On the waterfront the wind was blowing hard along the sand, whipping it into the air.

The sea was a heavy, foaming swell, crashing against the columns of the deserted Second Ave Pier. Few people had ventured out – most were heeding warnings from officials to stay inside. But Aaron Lucas, a 38-year-old photographer and Uber driver, was standing on the beach with his camera.

“You want to see what’s going on, what all the fuss about,” Lucas said. “There’s nothing like staring down Mother Nature.”

In the historic port city of Wilmington, North Carolina, a mother and her baby were killed when a tree fell on their house, officials said. The deaths were among the first recorded fatalities from the storm, which also killed a 77-year-old man who was knocked over by wind after going outside to check on his dogs. Another man was killed by electrocution.

On Saturday, police in South Carolina said a 61-year-old woman died late on Friday night when her car struck a tree that had fallen across the highway, near the town of Union. The death toll was likely to rise.

Play Video 0:49 Footage from space shows extent of storm Florence – video

Many people in Wilmington emerged from their homes for the first time on Saturday morning to scenes of lifted trees and fallen powerlines. Some residents were worried less about flooding and more about an extensive period without power. Sidney Este, whose 71-year-old mother was still inside his house, said: “I’m mostly concerned about the house getting hotter and hotter.”

Meteorologists warned it might be days and weeks after Florence’s direct hit before the town sees rising water levels.

On Saturday afternoon in Lumberton, North Carolina, the Lumber river was dangerously close to flooding. Officials said the river was at 14.45ft – a foot and a half over flood stage – and was projected to rise another 10ft on Sunday. South-west of Lumberton, it had already broken its banks. I-95, the main north-south highway, stood to flood on Sunday.

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The rain was still battering down and power lines and trees had been downed. On the south side of the river, lines were hanging about 8ft above the road.

Florence, which arrived on land as a category one hurricane, is the first test of the Trump administration’s response to a major natural disaster since Hurricane Maria pounded the US territory of Puerto Rico in 2017.

Maria caused close to 3,000 deaths, amid widespread criticism of the federal government’s stalled response to the disaster. Earlier in the week Trump falsely accused his political rivals of exaggerating the death toll from Maria as he dismissed criticism of his administration’s recovery efforts.

“I actually think it is one of the best jobs that’s ever been done with respect to what this is all about,” Trump said on Monday.

On Friday night, undaunted by fierce bipartisan criticism, he returned to the issue, tweeting his doubt about the research that produced the official death toll in Puerto Rico.