As farm fields and riverside neighborhoods filled up with water,
随着农田和河边的社区被水淹没,
residents braced for what they predicted would be nightmare flooding over the next two days,
在接下来的两天里,居民们便开始接受他们已经预料到的噩梦般的洪水了,
and city officials urged people in about 2,800 homes along the Cape Fear River to evacuate.
市政府官员们也敦促开普菲尔河沿岸的近2,800户人家快速撤离。
The river, swollen with fallen trees, had already risen to 38 feet by Sunday
开普菲尔河,被刮倒的树木被冲在河里导致河面上涨,截至周日已经涨到了38英尺(约11.6米)深,
and was expected to crest at 62 feet or more, enough to send its waters sweeping through downtown Fayetteville and over its bridges.
河水预计最高将涨到62英尺(约19米)深,这一深度足以席卷费耶特维尔市中心并吞没那里的桥梁。
The river crested at 58 feet during Hurricane Matthew two years ago.
两年前,飓风马修爆发期间,这条河的河水最高涨到了58英尺(约17.7米)。
As monsoon-like rains poured on the city all afternoon, people said they worried this would be far worse.
整个下午,整个城市一直下着堪比雨季的瓢泼大雨,人们担心这次的情况会比两年前糟糕得多。
“It’s imminent danger,” said Gina Hawkins, the city’s police chief.
“危险迫在眉睫,”该市警察局局长吉娜·霍金斯说到。
From the second-floor balcony of the Red Roof Inn,
从红屋顶酒店的二楼阳台,
Lisa Fenn could almost see the treetops of the rapidly disappearing neighborhood where she had lived for the past four years in an old farmhouse.
丽萨·芬恩几乎可以看到正在迅速消失的社区里的树的树梢,过去四年,她一直住在那边的一个古老的农舍里。
Ms. Fenn, a tattoo artist, had so recently repaired the flood damage from Hurricane Matthew
芬恩小姐是一名纹身师,最近刚刚修整了她被飓风马修带来的洪水破坏的家,
that she still had drywall boards lying on her floor when her family was forced to flee Florence’s rising waters.
当她的家人被迫逃离佛罗伦萨不断上涨的洪水时,她堆在地上的墙板都还没来得及装。
It was too dangerous on Sunday afternoon to go back to check on her house, but she imagined their land filling up like a saucer.
周日下午回去检查她的房子实在太危险,但她想,他们的地应该已经被像一个碟子一样填满了。
She has no flood insurance.
她没有洪水保险。
“It’s not going to be worth fixing,” she said. “I’m going to have to walk away.”
“再修就已经不值当了,”她说。 “我也只能放手了。”
In nearby Hope Mills, N.C., water began rushing over the top of a dam early Sunday, prompting fears, once again, of a breach.
在附近的霍普米尔斯,周日早晨,洪水就已经漫过水坝顶部,再次引发了人们对决堤的担忧。
Dams in the same location have failed twice in the last two decades, in 2003 and again in 2010.
在过去的二十年里,这里此前修筑的水坝曾两次被毁,一次是在2003年,一次是2010年。
The latest dam is less than two years old.
最新修筑的大坝才不到两年。
Jackie Warner, the mayor of Hope Mills, said she had spoken with engineers who expected the dam to hold this time.
霍普米尔斯市长杰姬·华纳透露,她已经与工程师们沟通过了,工程师们都希望这次的大坝能够挺住。
Still, the water kept coming higher, she said, than anyone had thought.
尽管如此,她说,水位还是在以超出所有人预期的幅度持续上涨。
“We don’t have any control over this amount of water,” Mayor Warner said.
“水位涨到这个地步,我们也已经束手无策了,”华纳市长说。
Between 300 and 500 people live below the dam, she said, but most had already been evacuated.
她说,居住在大坝下游的人有300至500人,但大多数都已经撤离。
As residents fled flooding towns and line workers tried to restore power in wide areas of North Carolina,
居民逃离洪水泛滥的城镇,线路工人努力抢修北卡罗来纳州广大地区的电路,
the utility company Duke Energy said it was coping with a coal ash spill, apparently caused by the storm’s rains, at a facility in Wilmington.
电力公司杜克能源表示他们正在应对威尔明顿某处电力设施煤灰泄漏的问题,表面来看,这次泄露是由风暴带来的强降雨引起。
The company said the spill displaced 2,000 cubic yards of the hazardous material, or enough to fill about two-thirds of an Olympic-sized swimming pool.
该公司称,这次事故造成了足以填满大约三分之二个奥运会游泳池的2000立方码危险物质泄露。
Wilmington, on the coast, was effectively cut off, with access roads flooded and the authorities asking people who had evacuated not to return yet.
地处沿海的威尔明顿实际上已经被隔绝了,原来出入道路已经被淹,当局要求疏散的人暂且不要返回。
A public water utility in the area warned that it was in critical need of fuel.
该地区的一家公共自来水公司通知说,公司正急需燃料。
“If we do not get the needed fuel within the next 48 hours,
“如果我们在接下来的48小时内拿不到所需的燃料,
we will not be able to continue water service for public health and safety, such as fire suppression and other life-sustaining activities,” the water utility said.
我们将无法继续为灭火等维持生命的活动的公共健康和安全设施提供供水服务,“水务公司说到。
“Also, our customers will be without drinking water.”
“此外,我们客户的饮用水也会出现短缺。”
译文由可可原创,仅供学习交流使用,未经许可请勿转载。