General Chat

Hope so too Gillx.

My cousins live in Jacksonville. Mum and dad divorced so I lost contact with them, it doesn't stop we worrying though and hope they all managed to get away in time.

It seems that things are even more dangerous now as torrential rains are still falling on already flooded and soaked ground.


Daughter lives in NS ..... they think tail end of Florence will hit there some time between Thursday and the weekend ............................ or maybe not.

They were planning on going camping for the weekend ....... plans hanging fire now until it is clearer.

They do get torrential rains at the tail end of hurricanes and tropical storms several times a year.

So Florence is still having an awful effect on the east coast, with all the flooding and much more still to come most rivers still haven't crested. Very sad and as expected there's been lives lost.

Hope you're a good flyer Florence if not take an extra large barf bag with you :-)

Winds up here for wed am forecast 60-70 miles an hour. Myself and daughter are flying to Glasgow for hospital appointment so think it may be a very bumpy ride!

Stay safe everyone...Candles all sorted and plenty of coal for the stove

Florence in the hebrides

Morning .I believe UK getting 60_80 mile and hrs winds Monday .Tea Tea._Tuesday lunchtime nothing like in USA.it must be awful & frightening. .we get bad weather here but nothing so extreme. We are journeying back. To Scotland Tuesday from Northwest England think will wait & see how bad it is before heading back home .batten down the hatches All.keep safe x Thinking of all in USA xx Barbara

A cinderblock motel in Jacksonville NC was blown down, 60 people who had taken shelter there had to be rescued ........ the news was not clear if it had been an official shelter or just one where they had decided to stay. Many more people who had decided to stay in their homes along the coast are now hoping to be rescued.

A reporter for our national news station has just said on the radio that he could walk faster than the storm is moving ........ it's really slowed down and stalled, right over Wilmington and the NC coast.

Biggest problem for inland is going to be freshwater flooding due to the rain.

Certainly should get the message across shouldn't it.

This is amazing - and scary.
I'm not sure even 'robust construction methods' would stand up to this:

https://www.theverge.com/2018/9/13/17857478/hurricane-florence-storm-surge-flooding-the-weather-channel-video-graphics

Florence has been reduced to a category 2 hurricane, but it has widened, so it now covers almost 600 km across. It is expected to impact about 590 km of coastline, and then to stall there from Friday through Sunday

High tides are ca 11:30 pm Eastern tonight (Thursday), and ca 11:30 am Eastern Friday.

11:30 pm Eastern Thursday is 3:30 am GMT Friday

11:30 am Eastern Friday = 3:30 pm GMT Friday

The damage to inland will largely be from the rainfall .......

........ estimates are that 3' to 5' (yes --- FEET) of rain can be expected over 2 days.

For those who prefer metric ....... 3' = 914 mm 5' = 1,524 mm

Not only is that almost a year's worth down there, 1524 mm is more than Vancouver, BC gets in a year while Seattle, Washington averages about 914 mm in a year,

and both cities are considered to be in a Temperate Rain Forest

London, England, averages about 23" or just over 583 mm a year, Manchester gets about 32" or 810 mm.

My home town of Oldham gets more rain .............. ca 1089 mm

Imagine getting that in just 2 days.

The drainage systems will be completely overcome, added to any flooding caused in tidal rivers. House septic and drainage systems. And this is added to already sodden ground.

I believe one report is saying some areas will receive 8 months worth of rain in three days, to areas already soaked from previous rainfalls. The average home even with solid construction and sump pumps and drainage will notice some negative aspect with 8 months of rain in 3 days....unless anyone knows better.......

Rollo


People have always used what is available and affordable to build houses.

It used to be wattle and daub in the UK for hundreds and hundreds of years. ;-)

It was timber in the US, especially in the south. You see brick and concrete much more in the north.

Just as in Canada, you see brick and stone in Ontario east to the Maritimes, and wood frame in most of the rest of the country ....... especially where the forests were large and the trees huge! Concrete houses are now popular, and tending to be much more expensive for the same size of house.

According to the National Hurricane centre site whilst wind damage will still be a major issue the flooding and surge will be the main issues both inland and on the shore.

No Rollo obviously time it goes inland it's not 20 feet of water, but it doesn't take 20 feet of water to damage a house. 20 feet drowns people hence people leaving the coastal areas.

Meanwhile, the storm has changed but I still wouldn't want to be there in it.

I didn't say it was easy or cheap just that a well constructed building can withstand winds of 130mph without significant damage. There has not been a storm surge of 20ft penetrating miles inland during the last 2000 years.

Throughout the southern US the norm is wooden frame building with plasterboard panels. There may be a decorative brick/stone skin. They offer no resistance to any kind of serious storm. The price in most realtors is far from cheap.

Yes, the USA has some really bad problems for very poor people with Canada not far behind. I didn't post about the life of Jim Crow.

Now estimated at Cat.2, but slow moving and could last for days.

Caroline, I was only pointing out that you said how high could you go ................ thinking you meant high above sea level.

Although it is true that lots of houses have been built in the last 50 or years at or below sea level, and at ground level, instead of on higher ground or on stilts as they used to be.

The rest of my comments were for Rollo.

Sylvia

I know you can't build any house to totally miss all weather, my point was Rollo was saying the only problem was the high winds and how easy it was to build stronger to stand up against them :-)

Storm surges if they reach 20 feet will travel far inland so I hate to think of the possible devastation this will bring, add into that all the expected rain.

Literally, batten down the hatches and man the pumps.