City spokeswoman Colleen Roberts told ABC News that volunteers are using private boats to pitch in and help.
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"You may need to move up to the second story, or to your attic, but WE ARE COMING TO GET YOU," the city said in a tweet.
The flooding started Thursday night and continued into Friday.
As the hours passed, the floodwaters continued to rise.
VIDEO: Hurricane Florence as daylight breaks in New Bern
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VIDEO: Hurricane Florence as daylight breaks in New Bern
By Thursday night, the city had already experienced heavy flooding, with waist-deep and shoulder-deep waters.
Watch: Cars trapped, buildings inundated with substantial flooding in New Bern
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New Bern Florence video: Cars trapped, buildings inundated with substantial flooding
Many streets are flooded and heavy winds have knocked down fences and trees.
Florence made landfall just before 7:30 Friday morning as a Category 1 storm.
It's estimated that the storm will dump 1 trillion gallons of water -- that's enough to take 581.4 billion showers.