THIS STORM COULD BE ‘HARVEY OF THE EAST’
More than 1 million people flee the anticipated devastation States of emergency in Virginia, South Carolina, Maryland, D.C. Rain may shatter state records from a hurricane or tropical storm
Although the focus on where Hurricane Florence makes landfall is drawing lots of attention, another looming threat could be the worst outcome of this monster storm: disastrous, deadly flooding from days of relentless rain.
“It appears a major flood event is on the way in the Middle Atlantic region,” meteorologist Mike Smith said. “It is likely some areas will flood that have never flooded before.”
With “monumental” totals of up to 40 inches possible, “the rain from Florence may break all-time state records for rainfall from a hurricane or tropical storm,” Weather Underground meteorologist Jeff Masters said. It could become the “Harvey of the East Coast.”
Although the storm’s winds probably will diminish rapidly after making landfall as a Category 3 or 4 storm, the heavy rain will persist as it stalls over portions of North Carolina and Virginia.
On Tuesday, more than 1 million people were evacuating the danger zones in the Carolinas and Virginia.
The first rain bands could reach the area Wednesday, forecasters said, and hurricane-force winds could hit the mainland by Thursday evening. North Carolina was the most likely target for landfall. Still, states of emergency were declared in South Carolina, Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C.
“All indications are that the storm will slow down and just crawl or meander over the inland sections and the coastal Piedmont,” the Weather Channel’s Bryan Norcross said. “We don’t know exactly where the center will go, but it’s not really relevant. It’s more like a (Hurricane) Harvey situation, where it’ll just slowly wind down.”
Last year, Harvey made landfall north of Corpus Christi, Texas, then stalled over the Houston area, dropping as much as 5 feet of rain across the metro area.
“It will be worse than a Harvey in the sense that the terrain is not like Houston, which is flat. If you put 2, 3, 4 feet of rain over flat ground, you have a certain kind of problem. “But if you put a foot or 2 – or maybe in some isolated places more – of rain over hills and mountains, you have a very different kind of problem, which is really more dangerous than the flat situation, as bad as that was,” he said.
Norcross said the soggy summer will exacerbate the flooding: “They’ve had very heavy rain in the mid-Atlantic this year already, and the ground is quite saturated.”
University of Georgia meteorologist Marshall Shepherd said: “As I tweeted with Harvey last year ... it is important to understand the potential one-two punch from Hurricane Florence. The full brunt of a major hurricane (Category 4 or so), then perhaps 30 to 40 inches of rainfall if the storm stalls. I found that people struggle with the part 2.
“Prepare NOW to evacuate you and your family,” Shepherd tweeted Monday.
“It will be worse than a Harvey in the sense that the terrain is not like Houston, which is flat.” Bryan Norcross Weather Channel hurricane expert