OFFICIALS in the US plan to airlift food and water to a city of nearly 120,000 people as rescuers elsewhere pull inland residents from homes threatened by swollen rivers.

Wilmington has been cut off from the rest of North Carolina by the still-rising floodwaters from Florence.

The spreading disaster claimed additional lives Sunday, with at least 17 people confirmed dead, and the nation’s top emergency official said other states were in its path this week.

“Not only are you going to see more impact across North Carolina, but we’re also anticipating you are about to see a lot damage going through West Virginia, all the way up to Ohio as the system exits out,” Brock Long of the Federal Emergency Management Agency said Sunday.

In Wilmington, the state’s eighth-largest city, residents waited for hours outside stores and restaurants for basic necessities like water. Police guarded the door of one store, and only 10 people were allowed inside at a time.

County commission chairman Woody White said officials were planning for food and water to be flown into the coastal city. “Our roads are flooded,” he said. “There is no access to Wilmington.”

About 70 miles away from the coast, residents near the Lumber River stepped from their homes directly into boats floating in their front gardens – river forecasts showed the scene could be

repeated as far as 250 miles inland as waters rise for days.

Downgraded to a tropical depression, Florence was still massive. Radar showed parts of the sprawling storm over six states, with North and South Carolina in the bull’s eye.

Meanwhile, half way around the world, Typhoon Mangkhut barrelled into southern China on Sunday after lashing the Philippines with strong winds and heavy rain that left dozens dead. More than 2.4 million people were evacuated from China’s southern Guangdong province ahead of the massive typhoon, the strongest to hit the region in nearly two decades.

In North Carolina, fears of what could be the worst flooding in the state’s history led officials to order tens of thousands to evacuate, though it was not clear how many had fled or even could.

President Donald Trump said federal emergency workers, first responders and law enforcement officials were “working really hard”.

As the storm “begins to finally recede, they will kick into an even higher gear. Very Professional!” he declared in a tweet.

The storm’s death toll climbed to 17 when authorities said a three-month-old child was killed when a tree fell on a mobile home in North Carolina. Three people died in weather-related traffic accidents, officials said.

Victor Merlos was overjoyed to find a store open for business in Wilmington since he had about 20 relatives staying at his apartment, which still had power. “I have everything I need for my whole family,” said Merlos.

In past hurricanes, flooding at dozens of farms also left hundreds of thousands of dead pigs, chickens and other decomposing livestock bobbing in floodwaters.

Some stream gauges used to monitor river levels failed when they became submerged, but others showed water levels rising steadily, with forecasts calling for rivers to at or near record levels. The Defence Department said about 13,500 military personnel were assigned to help relief efforts.

Authorities ordered the immediate evacuation of up to 7500 people living within a mile of a stretch of the Cape Fear River and the Little River, about 100 miles from the North Carolina coast.

Near the flooded-out town of New Bern, where about 455 people had to be rescued from the swirling flood waters, water completely surrounded churches, businesses and homes.