Hurricane Florence (Live Thread)

With Hurricane Florence now on the precipice of making landfall, and with dangerous weather not only expected but ongoing and certain to continue, we wanted to try using this space as a thread for updates about the storm. This thread will be updated from the top, so that the most recent updates are at the top of the post, beneath this explained. 

Update 14: 9:45am Eastern Time (AAD)

The worst of the inland flooding is still to come. Voluntary evacuation orders along the Cape Fear and Neuse rivers will be turned to mandatory as the day goes on and the rain continues. Areas of Harnett county along the Little River have already begun mandatory evacuations. Officials are warning anyone with a MILE of the Cape Fear River to get out now, before the water rises. NCEM is warning the rivers will crest out higher than during Hurricane Matthew, and that crest won’t come until perhaps Tuesday.

Update 13: 8:56am Eastern Time

Rainfall totals so far from around the Carolinas. They are, to use the scientific term, bonkers.

Update 12: 10:02pm Eastern Time (SEW) 

As Florence moves further inland, its winds have dropped – it is only a tropical storm now – but its capacity for incredible rainfall continues.

North Carolina is only just now getting started  with Florence’s full fury. The storm has now claimed a fifth life and 800,000 are without power. 

Update 11: 4:05pm Eastern Time (AAD)

Now comes the reports of deaths, and probably will not be the last.

Terrible video out of Wilmington, N.C. Three people were trapped under a collapsed home. A mother and infant died.
(Credit: Bart Comstock / LSM) pic.twitter.com/1BwdBsmjr2

— ABC 13 News – WSET (@ABC13News) September 14, 2018

Update 10: 2:15pm Eastern Time (AAD)

Staggering numbers from ABC News on just how much water is inundating the path of Hurricane Florence.

Florence’s 18 trillion gallons is as much water as there is in the entire Chesapeake Bay. It’s also enough to cover the entire state of Texas with nearly four inches (10 centimeters) of water.

That much rain is 2.4 trillion cubic feet (68 billion cubic meters). It’s enough to cover Manhattan with nearly 3,800 feet (1.1 kilometers) of water, more than twice as high as the island’s tallest building, One World Trade Center.

North Carolina alone is forecast to get 9.6 trillion gallons of rain, enough to cover the Tar Heel state in about 10 inches (25 centimeters) of rain.

Maue calculates that 34 million people in the U.S. are forecast to get at least 3 inches (7.6 centimeters) of rain from Florence, with more than 5.7 million probably getting at least a foot, and about 1.5 million getting 20 inches (51 centimeters) or more.

Update 9: 1:35pm Eastern Time (AAD)
When folks tell you “Transformers can go off like a bomb,” it isn’t just a saying, it is a warning:

Transformer fire on Creedmoor Road in #Raleigh @wral #HurricaneFlorence pic.twitter.com/c1AYnDlxqU

— Mary Dunleavy WRAL (@Mary_Dunleavy) September 14, 2018

Update 8: 11:06am Eastern Time (SEW)

Here are the hardest wind gusts as measured throughout the Carolinas and Virginia.

Update 7: 10:45 am Eastern Time (AAD)

Neat graphic of how power outages are spreading as the storm moves.

A look at the progression of power outages overnight in North Carolina for Duke customers. At least 400,000 people w/o power in the state right now.
Red > 20k customers
Yellow = 1k-20k customershttps://t.co/9LKJuQZyKl #Florence pic.twitter.com/wvsUTnmJiO

— Tyler Dukes (@mtdukes) September 14, 2018

Update 6: 9:12am Eastern Time (SEW)

According to reporting from the Washington Post, Hurricane Florence has now officially made landfall on the North Carolina coast. Roughly 100 people remained in immediate need of rescue in and around New Bern, North Carolina alone. Meanwhile, Wilmington was seeing stronger wind than it has in half a century, with gusts getting above a hundred miles per hour.

Update 5: 5:41am Eastern Time (AAD)

As Wilmington awaits landfall of the lumbering Hurricane Florence, further north in New Bern 10 feet of storm surge have left water rescue crews answering at least 150 calls:

Hurricane Florence: Update on rescue operation in New Bern, North Carolina.

– @MSNBC pic.twitter.com/illqdfpZqK

— NBC News (@NBCNews) September 14, 2018

Update 4: 10:54pm Eastern Time (AAD)

Amazing graphic on what a storm surge does.

This @weatherchannel visualization of storm surge is an amazing and sobering use of technology to show what hurricanes like Florence can do pic.twitter.com/fuszIcOR3s

— Brian L Kahn (@blkahn) September 13, 2018

Update 3: 10:30pm Eastern Time (SEW)

The scope of this storm so far is simply staggering, with reports that it is still likely twelve hours from shore. The story from the Outer Banks is unreal.

Update 2: 9:35pm Eastern Time (AAD)

One reason the local authorities are so concerned about the flooding threat for Florence? The coastal regions of NC already reached their annual level of rain…back in July.

There are still five months left in the year, but Wilmington has almost seen its average annual rainfall for 2018. The average rainfall for an entire year in the Port City is 57.61 inches. As of the end of the day Tuesday, the Wilmington International Airport has now measured 57.14 inches in 2018.

Just over 17 inches of that rain fell in July making last month the fourth wettest July on record for Wilmington. That is a pretty remarkable number especially considering the area did not see rainfall from a tropical system in July 2018. According to information from the National Weather Service, the two wettest Julys were in 1886 and 1946. In both of those years, a tropical system impacted the region during the month of July.

In other words, the region impacted by Hurricane Florence will be getting upwards of 8-9 months of rain in a matter of days, on ground that is already mostly saturated.

Update 1: 8:55pm Eastern Time (SEW)

As of now, there has already been incredible rainfall in coastal North Carolina, with more than a foot of rain hitting Morehead City, North Carolina.

The flooding is bad enough that television stations are being evacuated while still broadcasting:

https://twitter.com/blkahn/status/1040388754173779968

https://twitter.com/blkahn/status/1040392771717267457

The National Weather Service is not messing around with descriptions of this storm or its accompanying flooding: