Hurricane Florence
 

"Hurricane Florence is tracking toward the East Coast with invariability rarely seen in storms several days away from landfall. While forecasters were careful to cite “high uncertainty” and “low model confidence” last week, their tone changed after watching the storm’s eventual path barely shift from what they had considered to be the worst-case scenario.

On Sunday evening, the National Hurricane Center was forecasting Florence to become a strong Category 4 just prior to making landfall somewhere on the Southeast or Mid-Atlantic coast on Thursday.

With each passing flight into the eye of the storm and every new forecast from the global weather models, it is increasingly unlikely Florence will turn out to sea and spare the Eastern Seaboard from potentially devastating storm surge, flooding and wind. There’s even some indication the hurricane will slow or stall out over the Mid-Atlantic later this week, which could lead to a disastrous amount of rain." WP

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...=.e866fcb0e5e9

I'll take earthquakes over hurricanes any day. :eek:

This one is a monster and it's heading straight for the Carolinas. I hope everybody evacuates when they are told. This thing is going to flood everything south of D.C.

We're expecting up to 7" of rain in northern Montgomery County, MD. I heard certain places in North Carolina could get 30-40" of rain.:eek:

I've read that the ground is soaked already so it can't be absorbed. There will be some serious flooding. 30 - 40" is a catastrophe.

Meanwhile Trump has been spouting a crapton of lies about Puerto Rico and Hurricane Maria. Cohn was right, Donald Trump is "a fucking liar".

All the rivers around here are already out of their banks. Old Town Alexandria and downtown Frederick, MD are already flooded.

I hope they haven't started rebuilding Ellicott City already. Maybe they should move it to higher ground?

A lot of Ellicott City is one high ground, but the old town (an old mill town, I think) is down in a valley with a creek running right through it. I'm not sure if they'll ever fully rebuild after the two floods they experienced in the past two years. Too bad. The old town was quite attractive and full of restaurants, bars and breweries.:o

I remember putting a new roof on one of those old Victorians in Ellicott City way back in the day. Pretty cool architecture. We've got a few of those out here. I loved working on them. ;)

https://www.popularmechanics.com/sci...ce-east-coast/

:eek::eek::eek:

So the fact that this mega storm will be impacting mostly Red states must surely be a sign to the Bible-thumping Evangelicals in those states, yes? I mean, in their primitive brains, this must be God’s wrath for their support of a president* who isn’t really a true believer. Or we need to start a conspiracy theory to that effect. ;)

Don’t Worry, Guys: Pat Robertson’s Got Hurricane Florence Totally Under Control

https://www.indyweek.com/news/archiv...-under-control

Can anybody tell me why a lot (most?) of American houses are built like houses of cards?

A lady - living close to the landfall area - has been interviewed and told the reporters that she will not leave her house, she feels totally safe because it is 150 years old. In the background one could see it. A nice red house built of sturdy material, probably stone.

However - I really hope that here will be only material loss, and no casualties...

Could be the fact regulation, oversight cost money to the builders. Allowing short cuts cheaper materials. Who then pass the savings along to the consumer. Who both roll the dice hoping to win and a day will never come like this one.


That's my guess any way.

Right on the coast, codes mandate new construction be fortress-like. Recently stayed in N. Myrtle Beach. The sliding glass doors leading to the balcony were so heavy one could hardly move them.

Most of US construction, unlike in Europe, dates to after the time of manufactured dimensional lumber and the nailed frame walls it makes possible. That's why the thinner walls, compared to joined timber or solid masonry.

Another very funny issue is the high-voltage lines, mostly on ridiculous "wooden sticks". Billions and billions of tax payers money disappears in senseless military stuff insted of modernizing the supply of electricity.

I think this is one of the funniest issues when it comes to the "greatest" nation on earth.

Certainly a fair amount of infrastructure inertia. Money spent, working fine, it's not broken, until it breaks.

Ummmmm…………..

Here in Virginia, (an increasingly blue state), the usual Evangelical twits like Pat Robertson are doing a victory lap. Yes, Pat repelled the hurricane. :rolleyes: