Florence: Days of flooding ahead in the Carolinas as storm leaves at least 11 dead

• No electricity: About 760,000 customers are without power in North Carolina, emergency officials said. In South Carolina, some 36,000 customers are without power, officials said.

• Trapped and rescued: In New Bern, North Carolina, officials tweeted Saturday afternoon that water rescues had been completed. In nearby Onslow County, three US Coast Guard helicopters were helping with rescue missions, officials said.

• Record rainfall: Florence has dumped more than 30 inches of rain in Swansboro, North Carolina, as of Saturday morning, breaking the record for rainfall from a tropical system in the state. The previous record of 24.06 inches was set during Hurricane Floyd in 1999.

‘It’s time to go’

Across the Carolinas, officials are sounding the alarm: More communities will flood as rivers collect water from upstream and spill over.

In Rocky Point, North Carolina, Susan Bostic and her family were packing to leave Saturday morning, even though Florence’s center was long gone.

“We know it’s time to go,” Bostic told CNN. “We don’t (where we’re going) yet. We just know we’re getting out of here.”

Rapidly rising river

Anxiety also reigned Saturday in Lumberton, a North Carolina city that was submerged for days after 2016’s Hurricane Matthew.

The water in the Lumber River was rising faster than officials expected. It went up 5 feet overnight and was close to 15 feet, two feet above flood stage. It was expected to reach 24 feet by lunchtime Sunday.

Official predict that when the water reaches 26 feet, the barriers will be overwhelmed.

The city installed 11 pumps to help deal with the river, but Mayor John Cantey said he wants people living near it to get out.

There is no mandatory evacuation but residents in the low-lying areas that were flooding during Hurricane Matthew should leave now, city spokeswoman Emily Jones said.

In Cumberland County, which includes Fayetteville, officials ordered people within a mile of the Cape Fear River to evacuate by 3 p.m. Sunday.

In South Carolina, the worst is likely yet to come for communities such as Conway, about 15 miles inland from Myrtle Beach.

Water was rising Saturday morning in a flood plain near the Waccamaw River, lapping up against homes and pooling over at least one main road.

At least 11 have been killed

Florence has left at least 11 people dead, including a mother and her child who died after a tree fell on their house in Wilmington, North Carolina, police said. The father was hospitalized with injuries.

In Hampstead, North Carolina, emergency responders going to a call for cardiac arrest found their path blocked by downed trees. When they got to the home, the woman was dead, authorities said.

Two men were also killed in Lenoir County, North Carolina. One was electrocuted while trying to connect two extension cords and the other while checking on his dogs outside, emergency officials said.

Three people died Saturday in Duplin County, North Carolina, because of flash flooding and “swift water on roadways,” the sheriff’s office there said.

Also, officials in Cumberland County determined that a fire that killed two people Friday was storm-related.

In South Carolina’s Union County, a 61-year-old woman was killed Friday night when the car she was driving struck a downed tree, state emergency management spokesman Antonio Diggs said.

Earlier Saturday, officials in North Carolina’s Carteret County said two other people were dead as a result of the storm. They later clarified those deaths were not related to Florence.

She called 911. No one came

Those who stayed behind gave harrowing accounts of getting trapped in their homes surrounded by water.

Annazette Riley-Cromartie said she and her family thought they’d be safe in their brick house in eastern North Carolina. But the water kept rising.

She, her husband and three children escaped into the attic, but the winds howled, and the family fled to an upper floor bedroom.

As they waited for emergency workers, they heard neighbors screaming for help. Her 6-foot-2 husband went to see what he could do, but the water was above his chest, she said.

“It’s the worst feeling in the world to hear people yelling for help, and you can’t do anything,” she said.

She said she called 911, but no one came. Eventually, a volunteer rescue team from Indiana arrived with a boat and rescued them.

States of emergency

Officials have declared states of emergency in several states, including in the Carolinas, Georgia, Virginia and Maryland, where coastal areas are still recovering from summer storms.

According to the National Hurricane Center, the storm will travel through upstate South Carolina, be downgraded to a tropical depression, then turn north toward the Ohio Valley.