New photo Hurricane Florence: Rural towns in Carolinas makes plans to flee

Hurricane Florence could destroy thousands of homes in the poorest towns, leaving residents homeless and unable to rebuild, experts have warned.  

The 'monster' storm's predicted path means trouble for low-income communities in eastern North Carolina and South Carolina, which were historically built on lower, flood-prone land while the rich took the higher ground.

The town of Princeville was recently battered by Hurricane Matthew in 2016, and many of its 2,300 residents fear they will have to abandon the town for good if Florence causes similar devastation

The 'monster' storm's predicted path means trouble for low-income communities in eastern North Carolina and South Carolina. Pictured: People line up to enter a hurricane shelter on Tuesday at Trask Middle School in North Carolina

'It's scaring me to death,' said James Howell Jr. 'If I lose my place, I ain't coming back. I'm not coming back to Princeville no more.'

He still has furniture wrapped in tarpaulin on his porch because he is still rebuilding his living room after the damage caused by Hurricane Matthew, which left two feet of standing water in his house.

Howell figures he has two options if he needs to flee. His daughter lives about 30 miles west, away from the river. That's certainly where his most prized possessions loaded aboard his pickup are likely going Wednesday, he said.

And his granddaughter is staying in a secure motel through her retail employer's largess, so maybe Howell and his wife could rest there, he said.

The rich have long claimed higher ground along waterways, and that left freed slaves to claim bottom land that made Princeville into the country's first town incorporated by black Americans. 

Many people with limited means like the disabled Howells will struggle to escape Florence, or build back when its damage is done.

The median household income of Princeville's is about $28,000 a year compared to the statewide $48,000, and almost six out of ten town residents have public health insurance coverage like Medicare, Medicaid or the Children's Health Insurance Program in 2016, according to the US Census Bureau.

Florence's predicted path means trouble for some of the poorest communities in eastern North Carolina and South Carolina, said Susan Cutter, director of the Hazards and Vulnerability Research Institute at the University of South Carolina. 

James Howell Jr. sizes up how to protect his home on Tuesday in Princeville, North Carolina. The house was damaged by Hurricane Matthew in 2016. Howell said the furniture on his porch is there because he had to go out and rebuild the living room

Dorothy Pope, 78, and her sister Clydie Gardner, 71, settle in to the home they share in Princeville, after a normal grocery run on Tuesday. They are keeping an eye on the storm but have no plans to leave unless they are threatened by flooding

Dozens of poor black communities like Princeville across the region will have a harder time coping with Florence 'partly because of the historic inequality that was there,' she said.

'What I'm fearful about is there are a lot of people who are not going to be OK because they don't have elevated structures,' Cutter said. 

'They're in low-lying flood prone areas and they didn't leave because they had nowhere to go and no resources to get there.'

Smaller and economically struggling communities across eastern North Carolina from Seven Springs and Windsor near Virginia's border to Lumberton along the South Carolina line continue working to recover from Matthew. 

But Gov. Roy Cooper, who was elected weeks after that hurricane hit, promised Tuesday that low-income people won't be left to fend for themselves. 

The state is using detailed mapping to pinpoint where potential flooding could occur and will share that information with local governments who will warn people they must move.

'The idea is to have those shelters available to people on higher ground, and no matter what their income, we want to get people out of places that may be flooding,' Cooper said.

A satellite image taken on Tuesday shows Hurricane Florence in the Atlantic Ocean as it moves towards the East Coast 

In Beaufort County, more than 100 miles east of Raleigh, emergency management officials will use school system buses on Wednesday to move residents living in flood-prone areas to higher ground in Washington, the county seat.

There, the local high school will shelter up to 500 people. The county is split by the broad Pamlico River and some of the 45,000 residents lack vehicles to reach the shelter on their own.

'We are trying to provide transportation where they do not have transportation,' said Carnie Hedgepeth, the county's emergency services director.

Retired sisters Clydie Gardner, 71, and Dorothy Pope, 78, ran in 2016 from the flooding spreading toward the home their shared before a massive oak tree, its roots loosened by Matthew's rain, toppled onto the building. 

They'll flee again to an aunt's home on higher ground across the river. For now, there's nothing to do but wait to see if Florence threatens them again.

'They're saying it's 400 miles wide. There's no telling what it might do,' Pope said. 'When the water starts coming and I see it coming, I'm moving.' 

At least 25 million residents on the East Coast are at risk from the hurricane, which is expected to deliver a 'direct hit' this week, bringing 157 mph winds, devastating flooding and even the threat of a tainted water supply.

The 'life-threatening' hurricane has sparked mass evacuations with as many as 1.5 million people warned to seek shelter from the potentially catastrophic storm, while five million are under a direct hurricane warning.

'This will likely be the storm of a lifetime for portions of the Carolina coast,' the National Weather Service said.

Many low-income communities in the Carolinas are still recovering from the effects of Hurricane Matthew in 2016. Pictured: Flooded homes in Lumberton, NC, on October 10, 2016

The service added that it 'couldn't emphasize enough the potential for unbelievable damage'.   

Hurricane Florence suddenly changed course overnight promising to bring even worse devastation to the Carolinas and even parts at Georgia – with the Michigan-sized storm now set to linger for days and cause ‘catastrophic’ flooding with up to four feet of rain and 13-foot storm surges.

Florence remained a dangerous Category 4 hurricane on Wednesday morning after slowing slightly to 130mph overnight and it is predicted to stall even more off the coast of the Carolinas before scraping down the US east coast and moving inland before the weekend.

The new trajectory means the storm will idle at sea for longer creating even heavier and prolonged rains and storm surges for the Carolinas and possibly northern parts of Georgia.

Hurricane Katrina in 2005 became the most devastating hurricane in US history when in struck Florida and the central Gulf Coast in 2005, causing $108 billion worth of damage.

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News Pictures Hurricane Florence: Rural towns in Carolinas makes plans to flee

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