It has caused catastrophic flooding since arriving as a category one hurricane on Friday.
Some towns have already seen 2ft (60cm) of rain in two days, with totals forecast to top 3.5ft (1m) in places.
It is feared that more communities could become deluged as the storm crawls west at only 2mph (3km/h).
"This system is unloading epic amounts of rainfall, in some places measured in feet and not inches," North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper said on Saturday.