Hurricane Florence claimed the lives of 13 people in North Carolina and South Carolina, ABC reported on Sunday.

A 41-year-old mother and her seven-month-old son were killed in Wilmington, North Carolina, are among victims, as well as an 81-year-old man died in Wayne County when he fell and struck his head while packing to evacuate, officials said.

According to ABC, "more than 20,000 people in six states - North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Georgia, Maryland and Tennessee - took shelter in 206 Red Cross and community shelters on Thursday."

According to the US National Hurricane Center, the storm is located 45 km northeast of the US city of Columbia (South Carolina) and continues to move deeper into the continent at a speed of around 2.5 m/s. In less than 12 hours later, the storm is expected to weaken to the category of so-called tropical depression, but heavy rains and floods will continue.

The state authorities of Georgia, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Maryland, as well as Washington D.C. earlier announced state of emergency. The storm has already led to floods in several regions of South and North Carolina. Earlier the two states announced evacuation of coastal areas with a population of more than 1.5 million people. More than a thousand flights were canceled on the East Coast.