NewsNational News

Actions

TV station forced to evacuate due to rising flood waters from Hurricane Florence

Posted at 6:36 PM, Sep 13, 2018
and last updated 2018-09-13 21:36:21-04

Despite not being immediately on the coast, WCTI-TV in New Bern, North Carolina had to evacuate its studio and handoff operations to its sister station in South Carolina as flood waters surrounded its station. 

The Neuse River has reportedly risen 6 feet on Thursday as heavy rain and gusty winds have forced the water to rise. New Bern was roughly 70 miles from the center of Florence as of 8 p.m.

Around 6 p.m. Thursday, most of the staff evacuated the station. By 8 p.m. the station's meteorologists and a few producers also said they were evacuating. 

WCTI-TV is roughly a half mile from the river. 

With Florence only moving 5 MPH, meteorologists at WCTI-TV are unsure of when they'll be able to reenter their station.