NEW BERN, N.C. – Hundreds of people are awaiting rescue from their homes as flood waters continue to rise from Hurricane Florence.

“We’re estimating we’ve rescued 150-200,” New Bern Police Lt. David Daniels said early Friday morning, who estimates an additional 150-200 are waiting to be rescued.

The city said two Federal Emergency Management Agency teams were working on swift-water rescues and more were on the way.

New Bern, a city of about 29,590, according to July 2017 Census estimates, sits on the banks of the Neuse River. New Bern is about 32 miles north of Morehead City, North Carolina, and 101 miles southeast of Raleigh. 

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Authorities are advising residents who have not evacuated to go to the highest point in their homes, call 911 for help, keep their cell batteries charged as best they can and wait for help to arrive.

The National Weather Service office in Newport, North Carolina, in a tweet called the storm surge “catastrophic.”

The National Hurricane Center said the Neuse River near the city is recording more than 10 feet of inundation. 

A US Geological Service gauge for the Trent River in New Bern was “recording 10.1 feet of inundation” as of 1 a.m.

As of 6 a.m. ET, Florence was centered just 10 miles east of Wilmington, North Carolina. Its forward movement was 6 mph. Hurricane-force winds extended 90 miles from its center, and tropical-storm-force winds up to 195 miles.

“Storm surge values continue to rise in areas of onshore flow on the North Carolina coast and over inland waterways. A USGS gauge in Emerald Isle, North Carolina, recently recorded 6.3 feet of inundation.”

In a tweet Friday morning, the New Bern Police Department noted in a tweet that a curfew is in place from 7 a.m. Friday until 7 a.m. Saturday.

Contributing: The Associated Press. Follow Joey Gill on Twitter: @DigitalProdJoey

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