Don’t Be Fooled by Hurricane Florence Being ‘Downgraded.’ It’s Still Very Dangerous

By late Thursday afternoon, the Carolina coasts can expect winds topping 80 miles per hour. “Your time is running out”. It is an enormous storm, and it’s moving slowly.

As the storm continues toward Southeastern North Carolina, it will bring life-threatening storm surges, flooding and risky waves to the coast, the briefing said. Usually when a storm approaches the coast, forecasters can tell with ever-increasing accuracy who will get walloped. “Surge-related flooding can vary greatly over short distances”, the advisory said.

Soren Rundquist, Environmental Working Group’s director of spatial analysis, said if the rainfall projections hold up, the flood waters will simply take what was sprayed on the fields with them, along with what spills out of the pits.

The problem from this hurricane is going to be its slow movement.

While Florence has lost some of its strength, it is still considered an extremely risky and life-threatening storm.

The National Hurricane Centre said it was expected to keep drawing energy from the warm water and intensify to near Category 5, which means winds of 157 miles per hour or higher. If the storm makes landfall as a Category 2, these winds will be damaging, sustained at up to 160km/h or so with higher gusts. It was moving 10 miles per hour toward the Port City, the advisory said.

Those surges alone are projected to cause inland flooding of more than 9 feet in cities like New Bern, North Carolina, even without the expected 15 to 20 inches of rain.

As Hurricane Florence enters warmer coastal waters, it’s possible that it could gain strength (warm water is the fuel of hurricanes), but it’s still not clear whether it will push up to a Category 3 storm.

But North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper warned: “Don’t relax, don’t get complacent”.

Florence’s eye could come ashore early Friday around the North Carolina-South Carolina line. Storm surge of 13 feet on top of a high tide at 7 feet could overwhelm Carolina Beach. As the recovery from past storms continues in many rural towns, the next storm is about to strike. The National Hurricane Center says it’s now expected to hit Wilmington and then veer west, taking it south of Charlotte. “The larger and the slower the storm is, the greater the threat and the impact-and we have that”. The biggest problem will likely be mass power outages, he says.

Body surfer Andrew Vanotteren, of Savannah, Ga., crashes into waves from Hurricane Florence, Wednesday, Sept., 12, 2018, on the south beach of Tybee Island, Ga. “We’re about to be in the thick of it”.

FEMA has warned that while downgraded, the storm will still generate life threatening storm surge and rainfall in North and SC.

“It will be historic”, Baker said of the rain from Florence. “It’s something we haven’t seen. ever”.

“You put your life at risk by staying”, Cooper said.

Water kills more people in hurricanes than wind, and he said it will still be an extremely unsafe storm for rain and storm surge.

A National Weather Service forecaster has said it will be the “storm of a lifetime” for parts of the Carolina coast. “Life-threatening storm surge flooding, catastrophic flash flooding and prolonged significant river flooding are still expected”.

Preceded first by the storm surge and the winds, heavy rains were picking up as of late Thursday afternoon, the beginning of an onslaught that for some areas may not relent for days. However, meteorologists are warning that people in its path are still facing risky, life-threatening conditions. It is still considered risky with potential for strong winds and hazardous flooding. The images are dramatic and the surge is only going to get worse as the storms moves ashore.

Despite pleas from state and local officials, some residents rejected calls to evacuate.