here is you. a wind gust of 95. that was your gust. you guessed 90. it was 95. chad myers, thanks very much. we are keeping an eye on the sail that has blown loose behind us. in the meantime, let s go to carolina beach and derek van dam. derek. john, you know the full story of hurricane florence is still yet to be written because we know this is the long duration storm. that is what will set aside from all the other storms. this storm is here to stay. what we re experiencing now in carolina beach is extremely strong gusty winds. sustained tropical storm force with gusts in excess of 74 miles per hour. we are working in hurricane force no doubt.
issued, heed those warnings. it is a serious situation. communities and counties and municipalities never make the decisions lightly. we urge everyone to heed the safety warnings and evacuation notices. amber parker, craven county, public information officer. stay safe. tell your crews to stay safe. they are risking their lives to save people. amber parker, thanks very much. so that is craven county, new bern. 80 miles north of where i am located. that has seen the worst storm surge from the river. there are so many other waterways like that which line the coast of north carolina and down in south carolina. that is why this storm is of concern and the storm surge is of concern. let s go back to chad myers in the weather center.
loop, has continued to pour in. the rain continuing to pour in as well. this is the next 12 hours. so here we are. i m making a mark on new bern right there. here s the same area getting the same rain for the next 12 hours. that is what happens when you don t have an eye that moves. it just pours in. it is is almost like a training thunderstorm, but it is a hurricane. atlantic beach down river from the river up there has picked up 22 inches of rainfall. rainfall proper. obviously the water getting poured through. there is the hieye, john, 22 mis to your east. for the most of the night, we did not have real precip from inside the outer eyewall. we are getting a new inner eyewall. that means the storm is trying to pick up strength.
i have a plan. i have a plan. and i have options. there will be a point where i won t have options and that time may come sometime early this morning. when the wind is very high. but i m monitoring the conditions. so, 100 miles per hour. i don t have a problem. reporter: joe will be in his boat. many others decided to hunker down in homes and thousands already hit the road to escape the storm. wind speeds decreased over the past several hours but fema warns the risk remains high. please do not let your guard down. the storm surge forecast associated with this storm hasn t changed. it s remaining the same. reporter: storm surge and heavy rain with the slow moving nature of florence that will cause flooding throughout the southeast of the u.s. throughout the next several days. north carolina feeling the effects first. eye of the storm tracking
officials say a person died while trying to plug in a generator. electrocuted there in lenoir county. the governor, roy cooper s office has confirmed the death. issued a statement. our hearts go out to those whose died in the storm. hurricane florence will continue their violent grind across our state for days. be careful and stay alert. in addition to that, we ve gotten word of the highest river in history. the cape fear river in wilmington has reached an all-time high. the number is not something that we can relate, 8.27. but it s gotten higher than i d did it in hurricane matthew and higher than it did in hurricane hazel. the highest the cape fear river has been in reported history. let s get to griff jenkins live there. griff? shep, hurricane florence is