Tropical Storm Florence’s relentless rain is flooding parts of the Carolinas and promises even more for days, officials said Saturday, a day after it landed as a hurricane and left at least 13 people dead – including a baby.

The issues prompted North Carolina to tell drivers coming down Interstate 95 from Virginia to go around – the entire state. The state wants motorists to go west to Tennessee and take Interstate 75 into Georgia.

“The one thing I want to prevent is thousands of people stranded on our interstates or US routes,” said state Transportation Secretary Jim Trogdan.

A 73-mile stretch of the highway closed Saturday because of flooding and an accident involving a tractor-trailer.

Officials warned the flooding was only just starting.

“The flood danger from this storm is more immediate today than when it ... made landfall 24 hours ago,” North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said Saturday morning. “We face walls of water at our coasts, along our rivers, across our farmland, in our cities and in our towns.”

The storm's center is crawling over South Carolina, but many of its main rain bands still are over already-saturated North Carolina – setting up what may be days of flooding for some communities.

Serious flooding is expected throughout the two states, and some rivers may not crest for another three to five days.

Florence crashed ashore Friday morning in North Carolina as a Category 1 hurricane, and it has wiped out power to about 796,000 customers in that state and South Carolina.

It has trapped people in flooded homes, with citizen swift-water rescue teams from out of state joining local emergency professionals to try to bring them to safety.

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