I-26 is one direction from Charleston to Columbia.
US-501 is one direction from Myrtle Beach SC to Marion SC.
Heavy traffic with backups on I-95 at Hardeeville SC and Bishopville SC on I-20 west of Florence SC.
Schools were closed starting today, traffic will increase throughout the evening as people evacuate before nightfall.
SC-22 and SC-31 are now closed in and around Myrtle Beach.
NC-140 and US-17 are one way out of Wilmington.
US-501 is only open for outbound traffic in SC.
I-26 is one way only from Charleston SC all the way to Columbia SC.
All ramps at I-95 and US 278 in Hardeeville are now closed.
Quote from: edwaleni on September 13, 2018, 11:48:00 PM
SC-22 and SC-31 are now closed in and around Myrtle Beach.
NC-140 and US-17 are one way out of Wilmington.
US-501 is only open for outbound traffic in SC.
I-26 is one way only from Charleston SC all the way to Columbia SC.
All ramps at I-95 and US 278 in Hardeeville are now closed.
Contraflow on I-26 and US 501 have been changed back to normal, since most evacuees are already gone. I think traffic is still restricted in the EB directions of each, or is at least being scrutinized.
NCDOT has closed I-95 between Exit 81 (I-40) and Exit 65 (NC-82) near Dunn, due to flooding. The road is expected to reopen by 8:30 AM, September 17,2018. They have also closed all Lanes of I-40 are closed in both directions near Warsaw between Exit 364 (NC-24) and Exit 369 (US-117) due to flooding. The road is expected to reopen by 8:30 AM, September 17,2018. Probably more closures to come.
VMSs on the Beltway and I-395 today were warning that I-95 was closed in North Carolina. That's probably the most distant warning notices I can recall. Three days after 9-11 there were warnings of closures in the NYC area as we crossed the Delaware Memorial Bridge, but that's not as distant.
I heard the mayor of Myrtle Beach on I think CNN.She said they needed an Interstate. I assume she was talking about 73?
Quote from: 3467 on September 15, 2018, 07:13:46 PM
I heard the mayor of Myrtle Beach on I think CNN.She said they needed an Interstate. I assume she was talking about 73?
Undoubtedly.
Here's NCDOT's recommended detour around I-95:
https://www.ncdot.gov/news/press-releases/Pages/2018/2018-09-15-nc-travel-conditions.aspx (https://www.ncdot.gov/news/press-releases/Pages/2018/2018-09-15-nc-travel-conditions.aspx)
QuoteAt this time, drivers who would travel through North Carolina will be detoured completely around the state. If traveling south on I-95, the route around North Carolina will be:
I-64 West in Virginia to I-81, to I-75 in Tennessee to I-16 in Georgia. From there, drivers can access I-95.
This is an extremely long detour, but it is the detour that offers the lowest risk of flooding at this time. Please note those conditions can change as Hurricane Florence moves across the southern North Carolina border and begins to impact South Carolina.
Quote from: LM117 on September 16, 2018, 05:12:12 AM
QuoteAt this time, drivers who would travel through North Carolina will be detoured completely around the state. If traveling south on I-95, the route around North Carolina will be:
What about the US-1 corridor south of Raleigh?
Quote from: Beltway on September 16, 2018, 08:57:51 AM
Quote from: LM117 on September 16, 2018, 05:12:12 AM
QuoteAt this time, drivers who would travel through North Carolina will be detoured completely around the state. If traveling south on I-95, the route around North Carolina will be:
What about the US-1 corridor south of Raleigh?
US 1 is closed both directions in Rockingham (power lines) but otherwise open everywhere else.
The problem is how do you get back to 95 from this routing... I-95 is closed in Dillon County between SC 38 and SC 34. SC 38 itself appears to be open currently but this runs through a lot of swamp. There is a flash flood warning on the segment of I-95 below SC 38 as well.
SCDOT has the detour using I-77 and I-26 back to I-95...considerably shorter than having to go to Georgia
http://twitter.com/edpiotrowski/status/1041350727002673152?s=21
Damn what a mess! The bad news is that this is far from being over with yet.
I used Google Maps to find out how much longer of a distance that recommended detour is and came up with about 400 miles (479 miles via I-95 v. 881 miles via the detour). Wow.
Obviously if you're coming from further north and you need to use I-81 it'd make more sense to cut west sooner (I-66, for example). The VMSs here were not suggesting that yesterday; they just said "Use Extreme Caution."
I would think unless the destination was in Georgia it would be best to get on 81 as far north as possible and just us 75 to Florida.
Quote from: Mapmikey on September 16, 2018, 10:52:27 AM
US 1 is closed both directions in Rockingham (power lines) but otherwise open everywhere else.
The problem is how do you get back to 95 from this routing... I-95 is closed in Dillon County between SC 38 and SC 34. SC 38 itself appears to be open currently but this runs through a lot of swamp. There is a flash flood warning on the segment of I-95 below SC 38 as well.
SCDOT has the detour using I-77 and I-26 back to I-95...considerably shorter than having to go to Georgia
OK ... so there are I-95 closures in S.C. as well...
http://twitter.com/scdotpress/status/1041294219070066688?s=21
Are the traffic back-ups bad now in VA & GA now due to the I-95 closure?
Quote from: cjk374 on September 17, 2018, 06:30:03 AM
Are the traffic back-ups bad now in VA & GA now due to the I-95 closure?
No such traffic problems reported on the VDOT website (yet).
Did they block it off at the boarder? Many of the roads are open to local traffic. I can see why they wanted keep through traffic out. It prevents problems.
Flooding has reached the Durham area. US 15-501 is closed between Durham and Chapel Hill due to flooding, an alternative route, Old Chapel Hill road is also closed due to part of the road being washed out. Flooding has also closed Old NC 10 west of Durham. NCDOT is telling everyone south of US 64 and east of I-73/I-74 to stay put, though, as shown above, the flooding issues are now moving west and north.
Quote from: edwaleni on September 12, 2018, 01:54:20 PM
I-26 is one direction from Charleston to Columbia.
US-501 is one direction from Myrtle Beach SC to Marion SC.
Heavy traffic with backups on I-95 at Hardeeville SC and Bishopville SC on I-20 west of Florence SC.
Schools were closed starting today, traffic will increase throughout the evening as people evacuate before nightfall.
If Hurricane Florence doesn't light a fire under people to get moving on building I-73 through South Carolina, I doubt anything will.
Quote from: abqtraveler on September 18, 2018, 12:24:47 PM
Quote from: edwaleni on September 12, 2018, 01:54:20 PM
I-26 is one direction from Charleston to Columbia.
US-501 is one direction from Myrtle Beach SC to Marion SC.
Heavy traffic with backups on I-95 at Hardeeville SC and Bishopville SC on I-20 west of Florence SC.
Schools were closed starting today, traffic will increase throughout the evening as people evacuate before nightfall.
If Hurricane Florence doesn't light a fire under people to get moving on building I-73 through South Carolina, I doubt anything will.
Well, it's not like they're going to be able to say that Interstate highways prevent and resolve any flooding issues...
It would help with evacuation before the storm, though.
Google Maps is showing I-40 closed in both directions from Wilmington to Benson, as well as portions of US 74/76 between Lumberton and Wilmington.
Quote from: vdeane on September 18, 2018, 01:43:53 PM
It would help with evacuation before the storm, though.
Exactly.
Quote from: fillup420 on September 18, 2018, 07:36:37 PM
Google Maps is showing I-40 closed in both directions from Wilmington to Benson, as well as portions of US 74/76 between Lumberton and Wilmington.
Yeah, Wilmington is pretty much fucked right now.
Quote from: jeffandnicole on September 18, 2018, 01:38:43 PM
Quote from: abqtraveler on September 18, 2018, 12:24:47 PM
If Hurricane Florence doesn't light a fire under people to get moving on building I-73 through South Carolina, I doubt anything will.
Well, it's not like they're going to be able to say that Interstate highways prevent and resolve any flooding issues...
Important as effective evacuation routes are, it takes a lot more justifications than that for what nowadays is a $2 billion highway project.
Quote from: jeffandnicole on September 18, 2018, 01:38:43 PM
Well, it's not like they're going to be able to say that Interstate highways prevent and resolve any flooding issues...
They do if they are built at sufficient elevation so as to keep the road surface above the maximum flood level, and with sufficient culvert/bridge capacity to pass the maximum water flow underneath.
Of course this can be said of any road, not just interstates.
Quote from: Duke87 on September 18, 2018, 11:14:55 PM
Quote from: jeffandnicole on September 18, 2018, 01:38:43 PM
Well, it's not like they're going to be able to say that Interstate highways prevent and resolve any flooding issues...
They do if they are built at sufficient elevation so as to keep the road surface above the maximum flood level, and with sufficient culvert/bridge capacity to pass the maximum water flow underneath.
That would be extremely expensive. Interstate highways are normally built to a 25-year or 50-year storm standard, not for a rare event such as TS Agnes in 1972 that was said to be a 200-year storm.
Quote from: Duke87 on September 18, 2018, 11:14:55 PM
Quote from: jeffandnicole on September 18, 2018, 01:38:43 PM
Well, it's not like they're going to be able to say that Interstate highways prevent and resolve any flooding issues...
They do if they are built at sufficient elevation so as to keep the road surface above the maximum flood level, and with sufficient culvert/bridge capacity to pass the maximum water flow underneath.
Of course this can be said of any road, not just interstates.
I don't think there's a "maximum" flood level.
Also, you need proper drainage. Many roads have curbs. Curbs have drainage inlets, which can take in most rain water from most storms. Curbs prevent water from running off the road towards houses. Better to flood the road than flood the houses.
Has damage requiring long term repairs, and closures, been identified on any Interstates yet?
Quote from: fillup420 on September 18, 2018, 07:36:37 PM
Google Maps is showing I-40 closed in both directions from Wilmington to Benson, as well as portions of US 74/76 between Lumberton and Wilmington.
News articles have shown photos of I-40 being completely underwater in varioys places.
Quote from: abqtraveler on September 18, 2018, 12:24:47 PMIf Hurricane Florence doesn't light a fire under people to get moving on building I-73 through South Carolina, I doubt anything will.
Rep. Tom Rice (R-SC) is already talking about it.
https://www.postandcourier.com/news/as-flooding-threatens-to-isolate-myrtle-beach-officials-renew-call/article_995029c0-bb86-11e8-97cc-7b0781507b0d.html (https://www.postandcourier.com/news/as-flooding-threatens-to-isolate-myrtle-beach-officials-renew-call/article_995029c0-bb86-11e8-97cc-7b0781507b0d.html)
http://twitter.com/cityoffaync/status/1042033552806883328?s=21
Quote from: Beltway on September 19, 2018, 12:03:54 AM
Quote from: Duke87 on September 18, 2018, 11:14:55 PM
Quote from: jeffandnicole on September 18, 2018, 01:38:43 PM
Well, it's not like they're going to be able to say that Interstate highways prevent and resolve any flooding issues...
They do if they are built at sufficient elevation so as to keep the road surface above the maximum flood level, and with sufficient culvert/bridge capacity to pass the maximum water flow underneath.
That would be extremely expensive. Interstate highways are normally built to a 25-year or 50-year storm standard, not for a rare event such as TS Agnes in 1972 that was said to be a 200-year storm.
Since 100 year storms now happen pretty regularly, I would think engineering for formerly "rare" storms would be the prudent thing to do in this day and age.
Quote from: vdeane on September 19, 2018, 01:27:33 PM
Quote from: Beltway on September 19, 2018, 12:03:54 AM
That would be extremely expensive. Interstate highways are normally built to a 25-year or 50-year storm standard, not for a rare event such as TS Agnes in 1972 that was said to be a 200-year storm.
Since 100 year storms now happen pretty regularly, I would think engineering for formerly "rare" storms would be the prudent thing to do in this day and age.
Then they are not / were not 100-year storms, it was only thru lack of historical data that they were alleged to be.
It's not lack of historical data. It's climate change.
Quote from: vdeane on September 19, 2018, 08:47:36 PM
It's not lack of historical data. It's climate change.
Predictable response.
The data is undeniable. Whenever the temperature on a given day breaks a record and they show you all the other times the temperature was close to the record. The majority of them are from the last 20 years if not the last decade. That wouldn't be true if climate wasn't changing - they'd be spread out over the past 100-150 years to when we started keeping records. Look at how flooding is so much more of a problem that it was before. Look at how winter temperatures and storms are getting more erratic. Heck, look at how global average temperatures are going up faster than ANY POINT IN THE GEOLOGICAL RECORD. At this point, sticking your head in the sand because you like fossil fuels (or because you dislike how some environmental/urbanist advocates have seized the opportunity to try to make people change their lifestyles) is just plain irresponsible.
There are mountains of published evidence that floods and hurricanes recently are no more prevalent or intense than they have been over the last 100 years. Stop spending so much time watching CNN and MSNBC and expand from your static worldview.
Quote from: vdeane on September 19, 2018, 09:04:16 PM
The data is undeniable. Whenever the temperature on a given day breaks a record and they show you all the other times the temperature was close to the record. The majority of them are from the last 20 years if not the last decade. That wouldn't be true if climate wasn't changing - they'd be spread out over the past 100-150 years to when we started keeping records. Look at how flooding is so much more of a problem that it was before. Look at how winter temperatures and storms are getting more erratic. Heck, look at how global average temperatures are going up faster than ANY POINT IN THE GEOLOGICAL RECORD. At this point, sticking your head in the sand because you like fossil fuels (or because you dislike how some environmental/urbanist advocates have seized the opportunity to try to make people change their lifestyles) is just plain irresponsible.
Not to get off the rails here. The current global warming trend actually started in or around the 1750's before the industrial revolution. There was major cold spell globally just prior that peaked with the freezing of the Danube in Europe that ended a 300 year trend downward in temps.
It was called the "Little Ice Age".
While average temps are going up, its not 100% clear what the causes are. Global weather is impacted by many, many variables, included sun spots and solar cycles, perturbations in the earths rotation (called Milankovitch Cycles) basically a planetary wobble. Output of CO2 from man or animal via methane, reduction in overall earth rotation times in the past million years.
Only man's arrogance assumes we are the
sole source of global warming. Climate change has been happening since the Earth was formed billions of years ago. It has never been static or worked on a fixed schedule.
Now, back to roads.
Quote from: Beltway on September 19, 2018, 09:08:20 PM
There are mountains of published evidence that floods and hurricanes recently are no more prevalent or intense than they have been over the last 100 years. Stop spending so much time watching CNN and MSNBC and expand from your static worldview.
While I do
read CNN (as for
watching the news, that would just be the evening local/national coverage on my local ABC station; I don't have cable anyways and I prefer text when on my computer), I also read many other sources (primarily Politico/The Hill/NY Times/Washington Post/CNBC/BBC/The Guardian/Wired/Bloomberg, but as far as I'm concerned anything's game if it crosses my Facebook or Google News feeds; the only stuff I avoid are unavoidable paywalls (like Wall St Journal, which I used to read when they had a Google exemption) and Fox), as well as comments where available (which include a wide variety of political opinions). I just don't find the conservative "nothing unusual is going on" position credible; it doesn't fit the facts AT ALL. Heck, I'm only 27, and winter (and summer too) just isn't the same as it was when I was young! If there's a noticeable contrast for someone as young as I am, there is probably an even bigger one for those who are older (and anecdotes and data both bear this out).
Quote from: edwaleni on September 19, 2018, 09:20:16 PM
Quote from: vdeane on September 19, 2018, 09:04:16 PM
The data is undeniable. Whenever the temperature on a given day breaks a record and they show you all the other times the temperature was close to the record. The majority of them are from the last 20 years if not the last decade. That wouldn't be true if climate wasn't changing - they'd be spread out over the past 100-150 years to when we started keeping records. Look at how flooding is so much more of a problem that it was before. Look at how winter temperatures and storms are getting more erratic. Heck, look at how global average temperatures are going up faster than ANY POINT IN THE GEOLOGICAL RECORD. At this point, sticking your head in the sand because you like fossil fuels (or because you dislike how some environmental/urbanist advocates have seized the opportunity to try to make people change their lifestyles) is just plain irresponsible.
Not to get off the rails here. The current global warming trend actually started in or around the 1750's before the industrial revolution. There was major cold spell globally just prior that peaked with the freezing of the Danube in Europe that ended a 300 year trend downward in temps.
It was called the "Little Ice Age".
While average temps are going up, its not 100% clear what the causes are. Global weather is impacted by many, many variables, included sun spots and solar cycles, perturbations in the earths rotation (called Milankovitch Cycles) basically a planetary wobble. Output of CO2 from man or animal via methane, reduction in overall earth rotation times in the past million years.
Only man's arrogance assumes we are the sole source of global warming. Climate change has been happening since the Earth was formed billions of years ago. It has never been static or worked on a fixed schedule.
Now, back to roads.
Certainly we may not be the only factor but definitely a big one. XKCD did a good job charting this out. There was a small bump when the Little Ice Age ended but it really picked up with industrialization.
https://xkcd.com/1732/ (read the hover text too)
Mars is in the midst of a worldwide dust storm that has largely frustrated astronomers who wanted to observe it during its opposition (closest approach to Earth) last month. AFAIK no Earthings are there impacting the climate!
skepticalscience.com (http://skepticalscience.com)
(despite the website name, this website is debunking the skeptic claims, not promoting them)
----
Quote from: Beltway on September 19, 2018, 09:08:20 PM
There are mountains of published evidence that floods and hurricanes recently are no more prevalent or intense than they have been over the last 100 years. Stop spending so much time watching CNN and MSNBC and expand from your static worldview.
Due to climate change, frequency is
decreasing slightly, but this is more than offset by increased intensity.
https://www.desmogblog.com/david-deming
Quote from: Beltway on September 19, 2018, 10:05:42 PM
https://www.desmogblog.com/david-deming
The purpose of that website is against your position; the person in the subpage you chose disagrees with the main part of the website.
Quote from: 1 on September 19, 2018, 10:13:01 PM
Quote from: Beltway on September 19, 2018, 10:05:42 PM
https://www.desmogblog.com/david-deming
The purpose of that website is against your position; the person in the subpage you chose disagrees with the main part of the website.
??? .... ?????? ... ??? What do you think is my position? How does David Deming frame the issues? ????
????
What is the status of the I-95 between Richmond ans Savannah?
It is still under water through much of the Southern part of NC. It is basically closed between I-40 in Benson and the SC Line. It reopens at I-74/US 74, Exit 14 in NC.
Quote from: 02 Park Ave on September 19, 2018, 10:38:24 PM
What is the status of the I-95 between Richmond ans Savannah?
South Carolina reports all of theirs is open now, but that they are monitoring the Little Pee Dee River as that is likely to flood across I-95 in the next day or so.
NCDOT says that parts of I-40 and I-95 will remain closed for at least another week.
https://www.wral.com/ncdot-stay-away-from-wilmington-/17860288/ (https://www.wral.com/ncdot-stay-away-from-wilmington-/17860288/)
This site gives the latest info on road closures in NC:
https://tims.ncdot.gov/tims/ (https://tims.ncdot.gov/tims/)
Quote from: 02 Park Ave on September 19, 2018, 10:38:24 PM
What is the status of the I-95 between Richmond ans Savannah?
The article LM117 linked ends with the following, which is noteworthy enough to pull out separately:
QuoteI-95 in South Carolina reopened at 4 p.m. Friday, allowing North Carolina to provide a shorter detour for people traveling through the state. Drivers from Virginia now will be directed to use U.S. 64 West (Exit 138) to I-440 West to I-40 West to U.S. 1 South to U.S. 15/501 in Aberdeen to U.S. 74 back to I-95 in Robeson County.
Latest news from NCDOT:
Saturday, 9/22/18 12 noon update
Motorists may now access Wilmington
From the south via US 17
From the north via I-40 east to NC 24 east (Exit 373) to US 17 south
From Fayetteville via NC 87 to US 701 south to NC 211
Jacksonville: via I-40 to NC 24 (Exit 373)
I-95 remains closed from US 64 (Exit 138) to South Carolina
I-40 remains closed from NC 41 (Exit 385) to Wilmington
Quote from: LM117 on September 21, 2018, 05:01:36 PM
NCDOT says that parts of I-40 and I-95 will remain closed for at least another week.
https://www.wral.com/ncdot-stay-away-from-wilmington-/17860288/ (https://www.wral.com/ncdot-stay-away-from-wilmington-/17860288/)
This site gives the latest info on road closures in NC:
https://tims.ncdot.gov/tims/ (https://tims.ncdot.gov/tims/)
I'm not going until the flooding is all gone. Because I wanted pictures of the southbound Lumberton truck weigh station on I-95 (among others), and I don't think I'll get any good shots going south.
Then again, I ususally get to that part of the Carolinas on the first legs of my road trips in the afternoon, so maybe I'd be better off waiting until the second leg of the return trip going south. The two weigh stations in Halifax County, not to mention the one north of Carson, Virginia are a different story.
Oh, and I'm dying to get shots of Four Oaks, especially the old on and off-ramps at Hockaday Mill Road.
I-95 in NC has reopened.
https://www.ncdot.gov/news/press-releases/Pages/2018/2018-09-23-interstate-95-reopens.aspx (https://www.ncdot.gov/news/press-releases/Pages/2018/2018-09-23-interstate-95-reopens.aspx)
The section of I-40 that Bob posted above still remains closed, however.
Quote from: Beltway on September 19, 2018, 09:08:20 PM
There are mountains of published evidence that floods and hurricanes recently are no more prevalent or intense than they have been over the last 100 years. Stop spending so much time watching CNN and MSNBC and expand from your static worldview.
We really do live in a hilarious time if people are pinning CNN as a left-wing institution.
Here's how climate change is connected to hurricanes in general--
Hurricanes require a few ingredients to form, but the most important ingredient that will make or break tropical storm development is the temperature of the ocean water in the formation area. Tropical storms and hurricanes generally do not form in waters colder than 80°F. As the Earth heats up, the region of our world's oceans where the water temperature exceeds 80 degrees will expand. Hurricanes form over warm water, and a warmer Earth means a larger expanse of warm water. Take a look at surface ocean water temperature anomalies this year. The water present near Hurricane Florence's intensification is undergoing a heat wave, and if that heat wave spans multiple years, that may turn out to be a climatic change rather than a weather event.
Here's how climate change is connected to Hurricane Florence--
Hurricane Florence was one of the storm associated with the "Cape Verde season," a portion of the hurricane season when a great number storms strengthen out of "waves," storms blowing westward off of the Cape Verde Islands of Africa. Take a look at T.D. Kirk, another storm of the same ilk, as another example of a Cape Verde storm; it's running pretty much due west, toward the Lesser Antilles. This is what typically happens with Cape Verde storms-- they usually angle toward the Greater Antilles or Lesser Antilles before turning sharply northward. Depending on when they turn northward, they can hit the United States from the south.
Florence didn't behave like the typical Cape Verde storm, though--it moved generally WNW without picking up any winds that would turn it sharply north and northeastward, and it was somehow able to SURVIVE. Tropical cyclones that form in the North Atlantic aren't known to move generally westward without slowing down, and Florence didn't only fail to weaken...it STRENGTHENED. No Cape Verde hurricane has been known to drift that far northward and survive, and no category 4 hurricane has come that close to North Carolina before. Storms of category 4 strength or higher have never made landfall on the North Carolina coast before, and Florence came very close to doing just that. And the stronger hurricanes that have hit NC came from the warm waters of the south, not the eastern waters, which were typically too cold in past decades to strengthen a hurricane.
Long story short, we didn't know a hurricane like Florence could even be possible. Cape Verde hurricanes don't make it that far north without that sharp turn to the northeast, and ones of that intensity NEVER make it that far north in any capacity.
Quote from: paulthemapguy on September 24, 2018, 09:53:41 AM
Long story short, we didn't know a hurricane like Florence could even be possible. Cape Verde hurricanes don't make it that far north without that sharp turn to the northeast, and ones of that intensity NEVER make it that far north in any capacity.
This one was an anomaly, but when you look over the course of history anomalies happen often. The forecasting of them are even worse. Yes, this one will go down in the book as "We predicted it would hit the Carolinas and it did", but the reality was it was quite a bit south from where originally expected it would go. Once it hit land, the predictions got even worse, with the majority of models believing it would go more towards Ohio and Indiana.
I-40 has reopened, as well as US-74.
https://www.ncdot.gov/news/press-releases/Pages/2018/2018-09-24-interstate-40-reopens.aspx (https://www.ncdot.gov/news/press-releases/Pages/2018/2018-09-24-interstate-40-reopens.aspx)
Evidently, Lumberton is having problems again.
https://tims.ncdot.gov/tims/RegionSummary.aspx?co=78&Page=Weather
QuoteRobeson County experiencing severe flooding. I-95 & I-74 are closed through Robeson County. Expect downed trees and debris on the secondary roadways as well as extensive flooding and roadway damage. Travel is not advised.
:angry:
Speaking of Lumberton...
https://www.wral.com/lawsuit-filed-against-csx-over-lumberton-levee/17873134/ (https://www.wral.com/lawsuit-filed-against-csx-over-lumberton-levee/17873134/)
Quote from: paulthemapguy on September 24, 2018, 09:53:41 AM
Florence didn't behave like the typical Cape Verde storm, though--it moved generally WNW without picking up any winds that would turn it sharply north and northeastward, and it was somehow able to SURVIVE. Tropical cyclones that form in the North Atlantic aren't known to move generally westward without slowing down, and Florence didn't only fail to weaken...it STRENGTHENED. No Cape Verde hurricane has been known to drift that far northward and survive, and no category 4 hurricane has come that close to North Carolina before. Storms of category 4 strength or higher have never made landfall on the North Carolina coast before, and Florence came very close to doing just that. And the stronger hurricanes that have hit NC came from the warm waters of the south, not the eastern waters, which were typically too cold in past decades to strengthen a hurricane.
Long story short, we didn't know a hurricane like Florence could even be possible. Cape Verde hurricanes don't make it that far north without that sharp turn to the northeast, and ones of that intensity NEVER make it that far north in any capacity.
NC has been hit by a category 4 before: Hurricane Hazel in 1954. And the odd track was caused by a blocking high pressure ridge. Whether that ridge was caused by climate change is up for debate.
Current research shows that there isn't a strong link between climate change and hurricanes -- at least compared to floods, droughts, and heatwaves, for which there is a lot of evidence. The main reason for this is that while yes, climate change will increase the ocean temperature, that isn't the only factor that contributes to hurricanes. Hurricanes also need low wind shear, and there hasn't been much research about the effect of climate change on wind shear.
IIRC, the general consensus as of now (note that this may change in the future) is that climate change probably doesn't have an effect on the
number of hurricanes, but it may increase the
intensity of the hurricanes that do form.
Also, it’s worth noting that there is no statistical significance in one event. If we start having more hurricanes with this type of track, maybe then we can connect it to climate change. But until then, this is just one random event.
Quote from: US 89 on September 25, 2018, 11:24:37 PM
NC has been hit by a category 4 before: Hurricane Hazel in 1954. And the odd track was caused by a blocking high pressure ridge.
That storm still packed hurricane force sustained winds in central Virginia including in Richmond. As far as Richmond is from the ocean it is not immune to Cat 1 storms. With the heavy tree cover in the area (as in umpteen thousands of 70+ foot tall trees) those kinds of winds would be catastrophic to trees and whatever they fell on.
At least in a coastal area such as Brevard County, FL where I grew up, such storms are common enough that they "culled the herd" of weak trees decades ago, so at least a Cat 1 hurricane is more bearable, not that it is anything to take for granted.
A stretch of NC-12 on Ocracoke Island reopens today.
https://www.ncdot.gov/news/press-releases/Pages/2018/2018-27-09-ocracoke-traffic.aspx (https://www.ncdot.gov/news/press-releases/Pages/2018/2018-27-09-ocracoke-traffic.aspx)