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posted by takyon on Thursday September 13 2018, @12:35PM   Printer-friendly
from the big-splash dept.

takyon: Florence is currently expected to make landfall in North Carolina during the early morning or afternoon on Friday. There have been mandatory evacuation orders, but they may be widely ignored.

A category 2 (formerly category 4) hurricane named "Florence" is heading for the eastern coast of the US. This being around the midpoint of the hurricane season, that's not unusual. This hurricane is, however, expected to make landfall much further north than is usual: near the border between the states of North Carolina and South Carolina. As you may recall, Hurricane Harvey devastated Houston, Texas last year with many areas receiving over 40 inches of rain (peak total was 60 inches) over a four-day period. Florence is similar in that there is a high pressure ridge just north of the point of landfall. It is anticipated that this will keep Florence part way over the ocean (picking up additional moisture) and part way over land (dumping copious amounts of rain).

Hurricanes cause damage in three ways: wind damage, storm surge, and rain (flooding).

Let's start with the wind. Recent readings (according to Wikipedia): sustained winds 110 knots (120 mph; 205 km/h) (1-min mean) gusting to 140 knots (150 mph; 250 km/h). (Aerodynamic drag is proportional to the square of the wind velocity. Stick your arm straight out the window of a vehicle travelling at 60 mph. Now take that force and double it. And then double it again. Now imagine that force being applied against something the size of a building. Widespread structural damage is likely.

Next, there's the Storm Surge which "is produced by water being pushed toward the shore by the force of the winds moving cyclonically around the storm." This would be above and beyond the normal tides for the area. For this storm, Scientists say Hurricane Florence could produce historic storm surge of up to 20 feet (~12 meters). To provide some perspective, tides around Myrtle Beach (near the northern-most part of South Carolina) usually has tides of up to 2.5 feet (0.75 meters). In short, flooding at the coast will be of historic proportions.

And then on to the rain. Expected rainfall totals over a period of four days generally range up to 20 inches — with 30 inches being possible in isolated locations. The general area has already had steady rains over recent weeks saturating the soil. Most of the rainfall will, therefore, not be absorbed by the soil but will instead just run downstream. In the mountains and hills away from the coast are a great many valleys which will further funnel the water and produce major flooding. It gets worse. Tree roots in waterlogged soil will likely give way under the onslaught of the rain and wind; many of which will fall on power lines. Power outages of several days or even over a week can be expected. Temperatures in the area vary around 70-90°F (21-32°C) so expect much food spoilage when refrigerators stop running.

Further complicating things, Hurricane Florence's risks include toxic sludge and lagoons of pig manure. In 2014, about 39,000 tons of coal ash spilled in from a pond near Eden, North Carolina. As of August 2017, Duke Energy had 31 coal ash basins in North Carolina which contained about 111 million tons of coal ash, a byproduct of burning coal to generate electricity. It contains metals including arsenic, chromium, and mercury. The extreme rainfall could cause some ash ponds to overflow and send their toxic waste downstream.

North Carolina is a top producer of turkey, chicken, and hogs. More than 10 billion pounds of wet animal waste is produced annually in the state and is held in lagoons because it's generally considered a safe way to store the manure before it's used to aid crops. Though most lagoons will likely survive the storm intact, there will certainly be some which overflow sending their "aromatic essence" downstream.

Links:

National Hurricane Center
NYT: Hurricane Florence's Path: Category 2 Storm Closes In on Carolina Coast
Ars Technica 2018-09-13: Florence is now “only” a Category 2 hurricane. That won’t matter much
Ars Technica 2018-09-12: The Hurricane Florence forecast has gone from bad to worse
Ars Technica 2018-09-10: Hurricane Florence represents a grave threat to the East Coast
CBS News: Hurricane Florence closes in on Carolinas, Virginia – live updates
Washington Post Hurricane Florence charges toward Carolinas with ‘potential for unbelievable damage’
Wikipedia entry on Hurricane Florence
GOES-East Satellite Loop
Earth.nullschool.net: earth :: a global map of wind, weather, and ocean conditions


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  • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 13 2018, @01:07PM (10 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 13 2018, @01:07PM (#734213)

    Say, when was the last time a hurricane wiped out the Washington DC?
    Wouldn't now be a good time?

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 13 2018, @01:16PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 13 2018, @01:16PM (#734219)

    No. Wait 5 or 10 years for more condos to go up and more black people to be forced out of the city. Then send in the hurricanes.

  • (Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 13 2018, @01:16PM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 13 2018, @01:16PM (#734220)

    I think it would be a good time for you to kill yourself, you pathetic cock-gobbling piece of subhuman waste.

    • (Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 13 2018, @05:17PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 13 2018, @05:17PM (#734334)

      Talking to yourself is a sign of mental illness. Might want to get your head examined.

      • (Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 13 2018, @06:06PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 13 2018, @06:06PM (#734363)

        I bet all the bullies in school picked on you, you little pussy.

  • (Score: 5, Informative) by DeathMonkey on Thursday September 13 2018, @06:08PM (5 children)

    by DeathMonkey (1380) on Thursday September 13 2018, @06:08PM (#734366) Journal

    Say, when was the last time a hurricane wiped out the Washington DC?

    DC is pretty liberal. And liberals appreciate things like competent leaders and science.

    So, when Hurricane Sandy was coming in they actually prepared for it instead of pretending it was some kind of liberal hoax. [forbes.com]

    • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 13 2018, @07:05PM (3 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 13 2018, @07:05PM (#734396)

      DC isn't liberal.

      DC hasn't been anything like liberal for a long, long time.

      DC is populated by people who make their living off the power of government. Liberalism is telling them they don't need those jobs. News flash: their interest in promoting liberalism has never been high.

      DC is progressive - pushing the idea of Progress, shepherded by the benevolent hand of Bureaucracy, has been their attitude for at least the last hundred years. And of course that means that they're into leadership (a.k.a. their paymasters) and science (a.k.a. their orthodoxy) but it also means that they're against peons (a.k.a. other people) making ignorant (a.k.a. independent) decisions based on destructively chaotic (a.k.a. liberal) grounds.

      When D.C. is liberal, you'll know it because of all the regulations that they willingly tear up, all the laws that they repeal and all the time-serving paper-pushers they lay off.

      But don't hold your breath.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 13 2018, @07:56PM (2 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 13 2018, @07:56PM (#734423)

        Not this shit again.
        Soylent's user base is overwhelmingly American.
        You are pretending that the term people are using here is something that is the opposite of American usage. Nobody was confused here except you who are trying to sow confusion.

        • (Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 13 2018, @08:26PM (1 child)

          by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 13 2018, @08:26PM (#734444)

          DC isn't liberal from an American standpoint, either. It is largely composed of corporatist, warmongering, authoritarian cretins.

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 14 2018, @04:15PM

            by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 14 2018, @04:15PM (#734880)

            Dont confuse the politicians and lobbyists who dont/barely live there with the actual population.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 13 2018, @07:58PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 13 2018, @07:58PM (#734424)

      Yes, one blowhard with a microphone = an entire group of people's beliefs and thoughts.