The City of New Bern said in a tweet before dawn Friday that there were about 150 people who still needed swift-water rescue.
"I had a lot of fear initially but I'm glad to be inside and safe", said Zelda Allen, 74, a retired tax accountant from Hampstead, North Carolina, who was riding out the storm at Wilmington's Hotel Ballast with her husband. Significant weakening is expected over the weekend. Millions of people are expected to lose power and it could take weeks to resolve the outages.
Hurricane Florence, which has since been downgraded to a tropical storm, hammered Wilmington, NC on Friday.
When all is said and done, Florence could dump 18 trillion gallons along its path, according to meteorologist Ryan Maue. It is expected to move across parts of southeastern North Carolina and eastern SC on Friday and Saturday, then head north over the western Carolinas and central Appalachian Mountains early next week, the NHC said.
An ominous tweet appeared on a historic North Carolina community's Twitter feed about 2 a.m. Friday. The National Hurricane Center in Miami says more than 16 inches of rain have fallen at locations in southeast North Carolina and another 20 to 25 inches is on the way.
Members of the Louisiana Cajun Navy were assisting with rescue operations but later moved to Wilmington after emergency responders said conditions were under control. Over 60 people had to be pulled out of a collapsing motel in Jacksonville, North Carolina, and hundreds were saved as water levels rose.
"Some of the rainfall totals we're getting are already adding up to about 14 inches", NHC Director Ken Graham said shortly after 11 a.m. ET.
A state of emergency was declared in five coastal states - North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Maryland and Virginia.
Calls for help kept coming in as the wind picked up and the tide arrived, said city public information officer Colleen Roberts. Florence is forecast to dump up to 40 inches (1m) of rain in some areas after it makes landfall in North and SC .