Florence leaves 'monumental disaster' for North Carolina

Florence has left the Carolinas, but the death toll keeps rising as remnants of the storm generate rain, floodwater and tornadoes.

Now a post-tropical cyclone, Florence has killed 32 people, trapped hundreds more and cut off an entire city, officials said. Residential streets have turned into rivers, and freeways have morphed into waterways dotted with rescue boats. And the storm continues to wreak havoc.

The first Florence-related death in Virginia was reported Monday as a tornado associated with the storm's outer bands caused a building to collapse near Richmond. And reports in North Carolina of two hog-farm lagoons being breached and more being inundated by flood waters are causing health concerns.

"This is a monumental disaster for our state," North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said Monday. "This is an epi
storm that is still continuing because the rivers are still rising."

Florence will probably dump another 2 to 5 inches of rain on central and southeastern North Carolina, CNN meteorologist Michael Guy said. But even when the rain lets up, water gushing downstream is expected to cause "catastrophic and historic river flooding" for days across portions of the Carolinas, the National Weather Service said.

In addition to flooding across the Carolinas, flash-flood warnings were in effect Monday night across parts of far southern Virginia, where several tornadoes were confirmed Monday by storm spotters. One of those tornadoes hit Chesterfield County south of Richmond, causing a building collapse that killed one person.

In North Carolina, residents are slowly being allowed back to their homes in some areas. On Tuesday morning, residents of Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina -- where Florence made landfall - will be allowed back on the island, and Craven County's mandatory evacuation will be lifted. But officials warned that homes and roads may still not be accessible and people attempting to return should use extreme caution.

Elsewhere, however, officials continued to warn people not to travel in or through the state. Some interstates, including sections of I-95 and I-40, are impassible and remained closed.