A raging storm has been blowing up the east coast, and the culprit is Hurricane Florence. This storm is currently the causing fear on the east coast.

Hurricane Florence has winds picking up to 30 mph which categorizes this storm as a tropical depression instead of a hurricane. Do not take a tropical storm easy, there have been many casualties and injuries since Florence hit the east coast.

Recent updates put the death toll at 25 people, and the vast majority of those deaths have taken place in North Carolina. On the outskirts of Charlotte, North Carolina officials have found the body of Kaiden Lee Walch, a 1-year-old who presumably fell out of his mother’s hands on a large flooded highway. The real center of attention was the town Wilmington, North Carolina, which had no access to the outside world for a couple of days. In a town of 120,000 people being, cut off from everyone is a major problem, especially with people being stranded on top of their cars or on top of their houses. To everyone’s relief, a top transportation official has informed the public that one major road has opened up, but no street name has been released yet.

North Carolina has reportedly closed more than 1,300 roads and up to hundreds more in South Carolina and Virginia.  Sources have released that the Waze navigation app is not working correctly and updating with the most recent weather.

“It is not safe now to trust them [Waze] with your life,” said Waze agency.

In Wilmington, North Carolina they had up to 54 ft of rain on Mon and are expecting up to 62 ft on Tues. Certain parts of Fayetteville which is located in east central North Carolina are currently under water. The estimated damage in Florence is said to be from $17 to $22 billion. On Friday the total damage was reportedly up to $15 billion and the storm only seems to be lightening up a little in the past few days.

People outside of the Hurricane area can help by contributing to a non profit such as Red Cross, Salvation Army or Gleaning for the World. Another option people have is to hope that the east coast gets the help it needs in this chaotic time and that resources are given to them in this time of need. Rescuers are doing the best they can bringing in helicopters with shipments of food, and local authorities are stretched very thin, but people really need to stand strong as a whole and support everyone who needs it.