North Carolina residents face severe flooding from Florence

'I feel like the dumbest human being who ever walked the face of the earth,' said Tom Ballance, who owns a restaurant in New Bern, on his decision not to evacuate. Swift-water rescue teams had saved more than 360 people in New Bern by mid-afternoon Friday, and another 140 were still waiting for help, a city spokeswoman said. The city was placed under mandatory evacuation orders prior to the storm, but many there and elsewhere chose to disregard the order. New Bern, though not directly on the coast, was inundated by a massive 10-foot storm surge when the adjacent Neuse River burst its banks on Thursday night as Florence simultaneously dumped huge amounts of rain on the area -  as much as 19.4 inches in nearby Morehead City. More than 790,000 homes are now without power in North Carolina while 130,000 are powerless in South Carolina. The storm center has crossed into South Carolina and even though it is now downgraded to a tropical storm, officials fear Myrtle Beach could become totally cut off. Flood waters are expected to get worse across the region over the weekend and the rescue effort expected to last into next week.  Original Article: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/artic... Original Video: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/video/news... Daily Mail Facebook:   / dailymail   Daily Mail IG:   / dailymail   Daily Mail Snap:   / 8392137033   Daily Mail Twitter:   / mailonline   Daily Mail Pinterest: http://pinterest.co.uk/dailymail Daily Mail Google+: https://plus.google.com/+DailyMail Get the free Daily Mail mobile app: http://dailymail.co.uk/mobile