There is just no sugar coating this. Florence is a monster, and growing. Period.
A major natural disaster due to inland flooding will unfold slowly as Florence drifts inland and may linger for days and a week or more after Florence’s eventual departure.
Help may not be available for days due to the dangerous conditions for those who choose to remain behind along the coast. Total inundation is likely in portions of eastern and southeastern North Carolina and perhaps the upper part of the South Carolina coast with a storm surge in excess of 10 feet in some areas. Even people from southeastern Virginia to southern New Jersey could have damaging winds and significant coastal flooding, even if Florence hovers or moves ashore in North Carolina.
***Keep an eye out on the Gulf of Mexico: This one could sneak up on the attention from Florence. Anyone with concerns in the Gulf of Mexico along the coast of Texas to Florida need to pay special attention to this area***
There are so many facts to go over, I have started adding videos to the homepage so you can view at anytime and please subscribe, hit the ‘bell’ until you see (( )) and you will get updates as I make them. I have a lot to get to, so let’s start with the hard facts. When, where, how long, how much (rain, wind, and damage in dollars) and how it translates to you.
Flooding of significance will be as far north as Southern New York (Upstate)…
Intensity of Florence, and how she will grow to a strong Cat 4/5:
Thursday Night Location: Just because Florence’s ‘eye wall’ will still be out at sea, her affects will be felt hard overnight into the early hours of Friday. Power will be out.
Duration of Florence: She is expected to stall…thus the reason for catastrophic conditions. She will still be pulling the Atlantic and dumping water measured in feet (not inches) miles inland.
Wind speed impact: The reason it will take weeks to recover, is due to the lack of access to areas AND the areas impacted will have no power for days/weeks..because of sustained wind speeds over long periods of time.
If Florence comes ashore as a Category 3 or 4 hurricane, then damaging winds and power outages may extend southward by 50 miles, inland more than 100 miles and northward along the coast by 200 miles or more. Damaging winds may extend as far inland as Asheville, North Carolina, Greenville, South Carolina, and Richmond, Virginia.
Storm surge will be devastating and miles inland…just look at how it DOES NOT die down overnight
Damage impacts: Millions of people are currently at risk and Florence is threatening billions of dollars in property damage centered on the Carolinas beginning on Thursday and continuing through this weekend.
“There will be extensive damage inflicted by Hurricane Florence due to its predicted path, which is perpendicular to the coast, rather than at an oblique angle. This means the east and southeast winds on the east side of the storm are going to be most effective in driving storm surge flooding as the wind and waves pound the coast. That is one of many factors in why AccuWeather is estimating $60 billion in economic impact and damage from Florence,” AccuWeather Founder and President Dr. Joel N. Myers said.
“While other sources are monitoring the intensity of the storm, AccuWeather emphasizes that although Florence will lose wind intensity as it approaches the coast and moves inland, we are focused on the overall impacts of the storm on people and their lives. The maximum damage from hurricanes is generally caused by flooding on land. Typically, the second most costly aspect of a hurricane occurs along the coast as an angry sea is driven inland due to powerful onshore winds, especially when there is a large fetch and particularly when a storm moves consistently and perpendicular to the coast. Following inland flooding and coastal damage, winds, on average, are often the next biggest cause of hurricane damage and economic costs,” Myers said.