The snowstorm that pummeled southern states during the weekend has been blamed for at least three deaths in North Carolina and leaving nearly 70,000 in the dark, as residents prepare to face dangerous roads and plunging temperatures on Tuesday.

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper is strongly urging residents to stay off the road as a massive winter storm blankets parts of the Southeast with snow and ice.

Atrium Health, previously Carolinas HealthCare System, said on Tuesday data of about 2.65 million patients including addresses, dates of birth and social security numbers may have been compromised in a breach at its third-party provider AccuDoc Solutions.

A tornado with winds of up to 120 mph hit parts of the North Carolina coast Saturday causing damage to several homes and knocking out power to thousands.

Hurricane Florence caused about $140 million in damage at UNC Wilmington, and university leaders say they hope to accomplish repairs with a combination of insurance claims, state funding and help from FEMA.

The state now estimates that Hurricane Florence did nearly $17 billion in damage to homes, businesses, farms and governments in North Carolina, and that as much as half of that may not be covered by private insurance or government aid.

A North Carolina man has filed a lawsuit against more than a dozen pharmaceutical companies, alleging that their targeted marketing and distribution of prescription opioids has directly led to higher insurance costs for North Carolinians.

In 2003, after Mario Seguro-Suarez fell 18 feet head-first onto the concrete floor of his Lincolnton workplace, his employer and its insurance carrier acknowledged that his disabling brain injury qualified him for workers’ compensation benefits.

U.S. homebuilding dropped more than expected in September as construction activity in the South fell by the most in nearly three years, likely held down by Hurricane Florence.

Mexico Beach, Florida, is not just destroyed. For the most part, it’s not there anymore.
From a helicopter, you can see many of the homes and hotels that populated this beachside town of about 1,200 are gone. A few houses and other structures remain standing, but they’re the exceptions.

Much of the damage to homes from Hurricane Michael will be paid by an array of small, little-known insurers, backed up by larger reinsurance companies around the globe.
Florida is an oddball insurance market for homeowners, where household-name companies like State Farm and Allstate Corp. don’t have the outsize roles they do in other states.

Hurricane Michael’s torrential rain, storm surge, and hurricane-force maximum sustained winds that reached 140 miles per hour Wednesday could result in a historically devastating event for the northeastern Gulf Coast, according to A.M. Best.

At the headquarters for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), a few hundred people are already coordinating the response to Hurricane Michael.
"It’s doing exactly what the forecasters were pushing forward — storm surges, you’re seeing the ocean rise," said FEMA Administrator Brock Long.

As Tropical Storm Michael moves through Georgia and into South Carolina, its effects are being seen far and wide across the southern United States.

The remnants of Hurricane Michael — the most powerful storm on record to strike Florida’s Panhandle — swept through Georgia on Thursday on a path toward the Carolinas after leaving widespread destruction and at least two deaths in its wake.