Florence bringing 'catastrophic' flooding, mudslides deep into North Carolina
Rivers approached record flood stage and more than 680,000 utility customers were without power Sunday as North Carolina struggled under the crushing fury of Florence, the mighty hurricane diminished to a tropical depression but still pounding the region with unrelenting rain.
The Florence death toll rose to 14 Sunday after a truck lost control on a flooded South Carolina.
Florence has stalled over the Carolinas and was forecast to dump up to 10 more inches of rain in some areas, the National Hurricane Center said. Parts of southeastern North Carolina could see up to 40 inches before the rain ends Monday. And the damage isn't confined to the coast.
"These rainfall amounts will produce catastrophic flash flooding, prolonged significant river flooding and an elevated risk for landslides in western North Carolina and far southwest Virginia," the hurricane center warned.
Sections of two interstates, I-40 and I-95, were shut down due to flooding and debris. Several rivers were approaching record levels, and officials warned that cresting in some areas won't come until later in the week.
Previously: Hurricane Florence Threatens Carolinas and Georgia on U.S. East Coast
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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.
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Monday September 17 2018, @04:36AM (1 child)
-"
You say that like it's a bad thing.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 3, Funny) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday September 17 2018, @10:22AM
Have you no empathy, man?! Think of all the innocent moonshine stills that've been completely washed away!
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 17 2018, @04:59AM (4 children)
This damage and destruction is all because trump stole a jolly rancher from a disabled classmate in 5th grade.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by realDonaldTrump on Monday September 17 2018, @05:16AM (3 children)
More Fake News. Designed by the Dems to make me look as bad as possible.
"When Trump visited the island territory last October, OFFICIALS told him in a briefing 16 PEOPLE had died from Maria." The Amazon Washington Post. This was long AFTER the hurricane took place. Over many months it went to 64 PEOPLE. Then, like magic, "3000 PEOPLE KILLED." They hired GWU Research to tell them how many people had died in Puerto Rico (how would they not know this?). This method was never done with previous hurricanes because other jurisdictions know how many people were killed. FIFTY TIMES LAST ORIGINAL NUMBER -- NO WAY!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 17 2018, @11:26AM (2 children)
Citation needed.
You provided what appears to be a quote... back it up. Please provide a link.
(Score: 2, Touché) by realDonaldTrump on Monday September 17 2018, @04:47PM (1 child)
I would never lie to you!!! The Link........ washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-creates-political-storm-with-false-claim-on-puerto-rico-hurricane-death-toll/2018/09/13/151a6572-b76b-11e8-a2c5-3187f427e253_story.html [washingtonpost.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 17 2018, @08:27PM
Bullshit, donny. Everyone knows wapo is fake news.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Monday September 17 2018, @05:00AM (4 children)
More drama!
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday September 17 2018, @06:32AM (3 children)
... you insensitive clod!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 3, Informative) by Runaway1956 on Monday September 17 2018, @07:33AM (2 children)
Nonsense. I've been in storms and hurricanes. Remember Andrew? I ran into it, and then ran north with it. It was a deal, but not a really big deal. And, the people I talked to didn't talk in Dramaese either. Factual statements are useful, Dramaese is pretty damned useless, especially if you're affected, and need to make decisions.
I forget the year, I'd have to look it up, but the huge-ass storms that hit Maine, resulting in broken dams all over the central part of the state weren't dramatized like this. I really liked Maine people when I lived among them, they have little use for drama. Simple facts, stated in a matter of fact fashion.
I'll give ten to one odds that the people who are actually experiencing Florence right now aren't talking in Dramaese. Those people trade useful information with each other, because they want to help each other. They don't have any time, or need, to state things in some poetic nonsense fashion. Those kind of sentences are written by fruitcakes, safely ensconced in their offices, far from the storm. "We've got to milk Florence for RATINGS!! Make it sound ten times worse than it really is!"
Oh yeah - ratings. If at all possible, they have to make it Trump's fault. There are already comments about Trump and Florence elsewhere in this thread.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday September 17 2018, @08:54AM
Oh, gosh, so many words for "people survive/deal with it, drama's for journos (fuck'em)", but yeah,. I got it
(should've grinned, the use of an old meme is no longer recognised)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Monday September 17 2018, @05:10PM
The head of Homeland Security is likely to fire the FEMA director immediately after Florence wraps up over a very, very minor ethical violation because they happen to be good friends with the #3 at FEMA. The #2 spot has not yet been filled.
While #3 has impeccable academic and policy-making credentials he's never done any actual emergency work; his focus is on stuff like disaster insurance.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 17 2018, @05:02AM (10 children)
A stat Id like to see is the total gallons of water dumped and how much sea levels are reduced due to that.
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Monday September 17 2018, @05:49AM (9 children)
https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/deep-florence-dump-18-trillion-gallons-rain-57828105 [go.com]
https://weather.com/storms/hurricane/news/2018-09-15-florence-numbers-toll-damages [weather.com]
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 17 2018, @05:58AM (8 children)
According to this it takes 400 billion gallons to raise a big lakes level one inch:
http://blog.livnfresh.com/how-many-gallons-does-lake-michigan-have/ [livnfresh.com]
So 18 trillion gallons would be enough to raise it over 40 inches, or 3-4 feet.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 17 2018, @06:08AM (7 children)
Here it says 2.4 quadrillion gallons per inch:
https://www.quora.com/Say-I-want-to-raise-the-sea-level-one-inch-how-much-water-do-I-need [quora.com]
So the sea would drop about a hundreth of an inch due to this storm. If sea levels are rising about a tenth of an inch per year, we need ten storms like this world wide each year to create fresh water for us to cancel it out.
Maybe the storms could be over an unpooulated area like antartica.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 17 2018, @07:04AM (6 children)
I don't think you understand how TROPICAL storms work...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 17 2018, @10:37AM (5 children)
Nor overland rain... Do people think this stuff is being bottled? There's something called a water cycle, and the rain ends up back in the ocean anyway...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 17 2018, @10:51AM (4 children)
Never underestimate the abject stupidity of the average person.
The grandparent (or great, I lost count) that asked how much ocean levels would drop was simply indicating just how low an IQ he/she possesses.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 17 2018, @11:42AM (3 children)
Who are these people that go around debunking ideas with gradeschool level knowledge? Here you go, so much rain was stored in an australian lake that sea level dropped 2 inches in a year:
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-scientist-explains-the-mystery-of-recent-sea-level-drop/ [scientificamerican.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 17 2018, @12:42PM (2 children)
From the Fine Link:
So, a quarter inch (not two inches) over 18 months (not 12 months). That's impressive enough, no need for exaggerating the numbers - especially when you're encouraging us to look them up!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 17 2018, @04:24PM (1 child)
3 mm ~ .1 in -> 3 mm ~ 1 in
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 17 2018, @09:17PM
In other words, "what's an order of magnitude among friends?"
25.4mm == 1in -> 7mm ~ 0.276in
I hope you're saying that you mis-typed, and meant 0.2in earlier; otherwise you're admitting to be really bad at math.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by realDonaldTrump on Monday September 17 2018, @05:03AM (5 children)
FEMA, First Responders and Law Enforcement are working really hard on hurricane Florence. As the storm begins to finally recede, they will kick into an even higher gear. Very Professional! Can you imagine if Crooked Hillary was in charge of the federal? We'd have MASSIVE Carnage, folks!!!
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Monday September 17 2018, @07:43AM (4 children)
Modded up from zero, only because we have historical facts to draw upon. When Hurricane Katrina came knocking, Democrats were in charge of both New Orleans, and Louisiana. The city remained flooded for FIVE FUCKING DAYS before Dubya Bush inquired "WTF is going on down there? Do you people need some help?" The democrats weren't even smart enough to pick up a telephone, or a transmitter microphone, to ask the rest of the country for help.
AFTER Dubya made his inquiry, it only took a day for some of the neighboring National Guard to arrive on scene. When those Guardsmen assessed the situation, more help was called for, and resources continued to pour into the city for more than two weeks.
Two weeks after the hurricane, I drove into New Orleans, following a Colorado NG unit, headed in to join up with some of their people already on scene.
The help was available, but the Dems were too busy shooting black people on the bridges to bother asking for help.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 4, Funny) by chewbacon on Monday September 17 2018, @04:13PM
Democrats want the government to do it... but what happens when the government IS democrats? NOLA and Hurricane Katrina. "Don't worry, the government will save us!" "But, Ray, we ARE THE GOVERNMENT!" "OH FUCK FUCK FUCK CALL THE REPUBLICANS!"
(Score: 2) by Joe Desertrat on Tuesday September 18 2018, @10:05PM (2 children)
Other than the fact that there were indeed Democrats as mayor and governor in Louisiana at the time, it looks like you are revising history a bit: Criticism of government response to Hurricane Katrina [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday September 18 2018, @10:20PM
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 2) by Joe Desertrat on Friday September 21 2018, @08:09AM
This is the plain text link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_government_response_to_Hurricane_Katrina [wikipedia.org]
I notice in the link I posted somehow I got https://soylentnews.org/ [soylentnews.org] added to the front of it.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 17 2018, @06:32AM (11 children)
Doh. News at 11. What headline do you want?
"Big thunderstorm doesn't stop raining halfway through. Americans surprised!"
"Big thunderstorm brings lots of rain as predicted. Americans surprised!"
"After lots of rain, houses in millenia-old floodplane flooded despite prayers for the contrary. Americans surprised!" In unrelated news: "Belief in prayers on the rise - Americans more faithful than ever before"
"Unprotected infrastructure damaged by predicted rainfall 57th year in a row. Americans surprised!"
"Lots of predicted rain lead to predicted flash floods in predicted places. Americans very suprised! 14 dead"
"Big truck is not magically invincible against force-of-nature flash flood. American owner mildly surprised! Also dead."
... and lest I be called a hypocrite: no other developed or undeveloped nation on this planet would fare any differently. Except, perhaps, Australia. I refuse to have any sympathy.
(Score: 3, Informative) by c0lo on Monday September 17 2018, @06:34AM (3 children)
Is this the only point you were trying toi get across?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 17 2018, @06:36AM (1 child)
No. Also exasperation at human stupidity in general.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by c0lo on Monday September 17 2018, @06:41AM
Ok.
So "News at 11, an AC doesn't give a shit".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 17 2018, @06:49AM
I only have sympathy for people that i know. Everything else is a statistic.
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Monday September 17 2018, @06:47AM (6 children)
Yesterday the WSJ ran an article about how Federal Flood Insurance has encouraged $18 Trillion in coast real estate development.
When The Big One hits, it won't be in California.
No.
It will be a hundred miles out in the Pacific from Washington and Oregon, with Aberdeen and Astoria washed out to sea by a one hundred forty food tsunami.
Good Times.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 17 2018, @06:51AM (3 children)
Cobb seamount?
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Monday September 17 2018, @08:47AM (2 children)
My understanding is that it is only recently that it's been discovered it may be the source of The Big One.
http://www.columbian.com/news/2015/feb/19/tsunami-surge-could-push-far-up-columbia/ [columbian.com]
I got that 140' tsunami figure from a news article, but I don't recall where. I'll dig it up and post it in a reply sometime soon.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Monday September 17 2018, @03:46PM (1 child)
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Monday September 17 2018, @05:01PM
One of Nova Scotia's more-popular tourist attractions is white-water rafting THE WRONG WAY UPSTREAM in a tidal bore: The Bay of Fundy has some of the highest tides on Earth, with a particular river mouth being the very highest.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 3, Interesting) by richtopia on Monday September 17 2018, @05:59PM (1 child)
I think you are talking of my home, the Cascadia subduction zone. I as kept up for a few nights earlier this summer when I first started researching the potential disaster.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1700_Cascadia_earthquake#Future_threats [wikipedia.org]
My favorite quote:
Toast isn't good. Many people here have moved to gluten free diets and that much toast would be bad.
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Monday September 17 2018, @07:00PM
What's worse is that it's only a quarter mile from my office to the Willamette River.
At least I work on the eleventh floor. By the time the Tsunami gets to downtown Portland, it's unlikely to have enough momentum to topple the Union Bank Tower.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Monday September 17 2018, @07:28PM
Coming Soon To My Website. [warplife.com]
In this order, these things are vital to human survival: blood, air, shelter, water and food.
Shelter isn't a problem if you live in the right climate, but here in the Pacific NorthLeft is gets very cold and it gets very hot.
If you live where it gets cold, at your first opportunity buy for yourself and your whole family sleeping bags that are rated for comfort in temperatures at least as cold as your community's historical minimum. I'm not clear what you can do about heat other than to buy wide-brimmed hats for everyone.
Buy either a tent big enough for your whole family, or two tents so you and your mate can get it on. Typical camping tens are not built to be used every day of the year; it helps to cover them with a tarp whose corners are tied to ropes, the ropes tied to stakes. But it would work better to use military surplus canvas tents. If set up properly, stretched tight with no wrinkles, canvas tents will not leak.
We really do need water far more than we need food: during hot weather you could die in just one day of heatstroke; I came very close to that during my wanderings around Central California back in 2012. But the worst that will happen if you fast for a solid month is that G-d will explain to you what His purpose was in granting you The Gift Of Life.
The easy way: buy at least one large bottle of drinking water each time you go shopping. Store it in some out-of-the-way place like the back of a closet.
But for us poor folk: _Thoroughly_ rinse out large beverage bottles each time you empty one - get the cups rinsed good too. Fill with water, apply the cap then store. By doing just this I now have at least fifteen gallons of water in the back of my closet, all in used milk jugs.
Now for food.
Got money? Find a wholesale grocer that sells to the general public; around here we have Cash And Carry. Costco would be good too. Go to this wholesale grocer then buy a few cases of nutritious, tasty, filling food in cans or dried in bags. I'll be buying three cases of chili when my next client pays me.
Don't got money? Buy one extra can of nutritious tasty, tasty, filling food as well as a bag each of dried beans and rice.
I once read that "We cannot live one second without hope". Most of the deaths that resulted from the Puerto Rico hurricane were actually _sucides_. This was meticulously documented by a journalist a while back.
So among your survival supplies, also store some appealing beverages that taste good at room temperature. Beer and wine of course, but I like fruit punch even when its warm.
Also tasty snacks: that salsa commonly contains lots of salt and vinegar was originally so it would keep well in the heat. My favorite is Pace Picante Sauce. Whatever your own favorite, by a case of that too, as well as a great many tortilla chips.
Buy a good quality camp stove - I recently purchased an MSR Whisperlite Universal [msrgear.com]; it can take white gas, unleaded gasoline, kerosene and compressed propane.
Whatever your camp stove uses for fuel, buy lots of it. It's important not to store compressed gas inside your home: sometimes pressure tanks leak and so could either asphyxiate your entire family or burn them to death.
Buy a solar-powered AM/FM radio and some rechargeable batteries - I'm quite happy with UltraLast's rechargeable lithium batteries. You'll need to come up with a solar charger, perhaps you can buy one online, but if you build one yourself, my understanding is that battery charging requires a low, constant current source and not a voltage source.
I expect you can come up with more ways to prepare. If you do I'll include them in my website article.
Extra Credit: a couple shovels, a hammer, nails and some pine planks that are pre-cut to the right dimensions for assembling into a coffin.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]