Police Arrest 5 for Looting Store in North Carolina Following Hurricane Florence (+Video)
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Five people have been arrested so far in North Carolina after a large group of people broke into a dollar store in Wilmington, North Carolina, following Hurricane Florence.
Five people have been arrested so far in North Carolina after a large group of people broke into a dollar store in Wilmington, North Carolina, following Hurricane Florence.
On Saturday afternoon, dozens of individuals went into the Family Dollar on Greenfield Street and picked the place clean.
Wilmington police were dispatched but were asked to stand down by the manager of the store.
Around 6:40 p.m., police were dispatched in response to another theft incident at the Dollar General on Dawson Street, abc7 reported.
Officials say five people were charged in connection with that robbery.
At the Family Dollar on Greenfield Street, Wilmington police said that despite the wishes of the store manager, they will still be searching for the individuals who robbed the store and charging them to the "fullest extent of the law."
A curfew was instituted at 5 p.m. for the area surrounding the Family Dollar, where the first incident of looting took place. The curfew went into place at 5 p.m. Saturday and will last until 6 a.m., police said.
Hurricane Florence came onshore at about 7 a.m. on Friday morning as a Category 1 storm with winds of 90 mph. Wilmington received 9.58 inches of rain on Friday alone, a daily record by almost 4 inches. It received another 3.26 inches of rain on Saturday -- and 1.5 inches on Thursday as the outer bands lashed the state -- to reach 14.34 inches total from Florence. The city usually sees 4.09 inches for the entire month of September, according to the National Weather Service.
The city saw a gust of 105 mph on Friday, and sustained winds of 61 mph, according to the NWS.
Eleven deaths have been confirmed in North Carolina as a result of Hurricane Florence, which is now a tropical depression.
