FRIDAY UPDATE: Florence Onshore, High Winds and Flooding Rains Will Continue!
Florence made landfall this morning as a strong category one hurricane at Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina, on the eastern side of the city of Wilmington. Florence has been downgraded to a tropical storm as of the 5 pm advisory from the National Hurricane Center. It’s at the top end of the tropical storm threshold, though, with sustained winds still to 70 mph in some bands. Damaging winds will remain a threat from southern NC into eastern SC. Tremendously heavy rainfall and freshwater flooding will be the most serious and widespread danger going forward, however.
High winds have lead to widespread power outages over the eastern Carolinas with almost a million reported in the dark. Winds have been gusting upwards of 100 mph in spots (see table above). Although the intensity of winds will gradually diminish as the storm weakens, rain-weakened soils and the long duration of high winds will continue to lead to downed trees and powerlines. In some areas these power outages will last for weeks.
Reports indicate that 12-20 inches of rain have already fallen over portions of coastal North Carolina. The video below is taken from a house near the Pungo River early this morning with the corresponding river gauge data shown below that. The high water shown is probably a combination of the freshwater flooding of the river and storm surge from the nearby ocean. This kind of inundation will become more widespread as rivers rise in response to the copious rainfall.
CRAZY FLOODING. #HurricaneFlorence making a mess for families in its path. This is the #Pungo River in Belhaven, North Carolina. #Florence #Hurricane (📸 Amy Johnson) #flooding #NC pic.twitter.com/bXlrYlwYtN
— Josh Benson (@WFLAJosh) September 14, 2018
Florence will continue to crawl westward overnight and through much of Saturday, reaching the Midlands of South Carolina by Saturday night. It’ll be Sunday before the remnants of Florence start to turn north through the Appalachians and pick up speed. That means many hours of persistent, torrential rainfall rates near and northeast of the center. Some areas will see storm totals of 3 feet or more! Many rivers will exceed major flood stages and set new record marks. This is a potentially deadly situation with many homes and businesses likely to be under water in the coming days!
