So far, more than 200,000 homes in North Carolina are still without power. The storm Florence left at least 35 dead

Wellington US President Donald Trump is scheduled to visit North Carolina on Wednesday, which is bearing the brunt of the lethal floods caused by the Florence storm and where rivers continue to grow while thousands of homes and roads remain submerged.

Trump’s trip to the state comes after criticism of his government’s response to Hurricane Maria, which devastated Puerto Rico last year, and more recently, by questioning the official number of 3,000 dead in the US territory.

Trump plans to land at the Marine Point Air Base Cherry Point in Havelock, North Carolina, at approximately 10.30 am local time and return to Washington D.C. at 18:15 local time, according to the White House.

More than 15,000 people remain in shelters and more than 200,000 homes remain without electricity throughout North Carolina, six days after Florence made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane, state officials said.

“We continue to feel the effects of this huge storm,” North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said Tuesday.

“Although there are no substantial rains in the forecasts and the sun can shine in many parts of our state, the rivers continue to grow and more floods will occur,” he added.

The Cape Fear River is expected to reach 19 meters on Wednesday, four times its normal height, in Fayetteville, a city of 200,000 inhabitants in the southern part of the state, near the Fort Bragg military base, according to the National Meteorological Service. That has interrupted efforts to restore electricity, clear roads and allow evacuated residents to return home.

“There is a good chance that those living within the one mile (one kilometer and a half) evacuation area of the Cape Fear River will be affected by floods,” the city said in a statement.

The city manager told CNN that 12,000 people were “in danger.”

Florence has already killed at least 35 people, 26 of them in North Carolina and eight in South Carolina. One person died in Virginia when the storm generated about 16 tornadoes in that state on Monday, according to the National Weather Service.