Hurricane Dorian slams North Carolina: At least 4 dead, hundreds trapped by ‘catastrophic’ flooding

Hurricane Dorian made landfall along Cape Hatteras in North Carolina on Friday as those on the state’s low-lying islands battled ferocious rain and braced for flash flooding and dangerous storm surge.

Hundreds may be trapped on Ocracoke Island where the deadly storm “is raging” and “waters are rising quickly,” North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said.

The Hyde County Sheriff’s Office called the flooding on the island “catastrophic.”

“We are flooding like crazy,” said Ocracoke Island resident and bookshop owner Leslie Lanier. “I have been here 32 years and not seen this.”

At least four people have died in the southeastern U.S.as a result of Dorian. All were men in North Carolina or Florida who died in falls or by electrocution.

Dorian was expected to remain a hurricane as it sweeps up the Eastern Seaboard through Saturday, veering far enough offshore that its hurricane-force winds are unlikely to pose any threat to land in the U.S.

More than 370,000 people were without electricity in the Carolinas and Virginia as Dorian moved up the coast.

Associated Press