Emergency as US East Coast braces for 'record' rainfall

Emergencies were declared along swathes of the US East Coast and residents evacuated on Friday after a powerful rainstorm lashed several states.

Forecasters warned of potentially deadly and unprecedented rainfall in parts of the East Coast and the rain was not expected to let up until Monday, triggering possible flash flooding.

North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and New Jersey all had warnings in place and in at least two coastal communities people were told to flee because of dangerous rising waters.

Multiple water rescues were made in the towns of Carolina Shores and Calabash, in North Carolina, and a shelter opened for those displaced, local media said.

In South Carolina, Governor Nikki Haley told drivers to stay off the roads and warned power outages were possible during the weekend.

"We are expecting historic levels of rainfall this weekend," she said in a statement.

Bill Martin, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Greenville-Spartanburg, South Carolina, told The Weather Channel: "We're certainly very concerned about this situation."

He added: "We're expecting very high to extreme levels of rainfall over the next 48 hours."

The National Weather Service warned of heavy rain and flooding across parts of the Mid-Atlantic, with Georgia in the south and New England in the north all under threat.

The weather system was thought to have been whipped up in part by Hurricane Joaquin, which tore through the Bahamas on Friday.