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Eerie scenes as floods leave hundreds of fish scattered across road

Firefighters were required to put their hoses to a new use after receding floodwaters in the aftermath of Hurricane Florence left hundreds of rotting fish on the side of a highway.

Footage showed firefighters blasting the dead fish to the highway shoulder with a fire hose in Penderlea County, in eastern North Carolina.

Receding swells left piles of the fish stranded on a highway near Wallace, about 56 kilometres from the nearest beach, according to the Penderlea Fire Department, which shared video of firefighters hosing down the asphalt.

Hurricane Florence storm leaves dead fish for firefighters to clean up on North Carolina highway.
Firefighters turned their hoses to a different cause after receding floodwaters in the aftermath of Hurricane Florence left hundreds of rotting fish on the side of a North Carolina highway. Source: Penderlea Fire Department

“Well, we can add ‘washing fish off of the interstate’ to the long list of interesting things firefighters get to experience!” the fire department wrote on Facebook Sunday.

“Hurricane Florence caused massive flooding in our area and allowed the fish to travel far from their natural habitat, stranding them on the interstate when waters receded,” the fire department added.

Thousands of coastal residents remained on edge on Sunday, told they may need to leave their homes because rivers are still rising more than a week after Hurricane Florence slammed into the Carolinas.

Hurricane Florence storm leaves dead fish for firefighters to clean up on North Carolina highway.
Firefighters blasted the dead fish to the highway shoulder with a fire hose in Penderlea County after Hurricane Florence. Source: Penderlea Fire Department

At least 40 people have died as a result of the storm, with most of those in North Carolina.

About 5000 people across the state have been rescued by boat or helicopter since the storm made landfall, twice as many as in Hurricane Matthew two years ago, according to state officials. Thousands of people remained in shelters.

Rivers and waterways in North and South Carolina were expected to peak on Sunday and remain at dangerous flood levels for days, the US National Weather Service warned more than a week after the arrival of Hurricane Florence, which has killed at least 40 people.

Much of the region remained under heavy flooding, including one area 64km north-northwest of Wilmington where waters were still 1.5 metres above flood status, according to the National Weather Service.

Hurricane Florence storm leaves dead fish for firefighters to clean up on North Carolina highway.
Receding swells left piles of the fish stranded on a highway after Hurricane Florence. Source: Penderlea Fire Department

“This isn’t over. Large sections of rivers near the coast won’t start cresting until at least early in the week, maybe later,” said Bob Oravec, a meteorologist with the NWS’s Weather Prediction Center

“All that water is going to take a good while to recede,” he said. “Damage can still be done. It’ll be a slow drop.”

The storm dumped 75cm to 1 metre of rain on the Wilmington area, temporarily cutting off the historic coastal city that lies along the Cape Fear River.

While some areas of the state will experience major flooding through at least Tuesday, waters have receded elsewhere.

with Reuters