Peril On Your Street

I wrote this early this week as Tropical Depression Florence quietly swept through our section of South Carolina. I put it in quotes only to separate it from the rest of this entry. "My Sunday is as gentle as a rainy day can be. No one expected that when Hurricane Florence was approaching the Carolina coast. Forecasts called for major damage throughout North and South Carolina, including our little corner known as the Upstate. The rain today is somewhere between a drizzle and a mist. The wind barely stirs the upper branches on tall trees. The forecasts for our area were as accurate as those for the 2016 presidential election. Two days ago, the predictions called for us to get nearly 3 inches of rain, and winds to be nearly 50 mph. Nearby Greenville, only 25 miles to our east, was expected to get nearly 5 inches of rain. What happened? Those big bands on the northern side of Florence veered a little more to the north. The rain-laden storm front didn't dip into our area. No ...

The last 48 hours have been a time of changing reality as experts try to predict what Hurricane Florence will do. Here's a short synopsis. Two days ago, when I wrote my first blog about the storm, dominant predictions said the hurricane would hit on the southern North Carolina coast and sweep to the north and west. Those predictions called for a storm moving at a reasonable pace. It would travel through the center of North Carolina, and the most damaging rains would fall in the mountains of western Virginia. That track would have little effect on Upstate South Carolina, the area where we live. We might get an inch or two of rain. That call for apparent safety didn't last long. The dominant predictions changed and called for a western surge through North Carolina, in large part sparing the Virginia mountains. The effect on our area raised somewhat from only minimal rain and wind to 3 to 5 inches of rain and winds of more than 30 mph. That prediction also didn't last lo...

The warnings stream constantly across the bottom of the television screen on one of the Greenville, South Carolina, channels. Those have been there since Sunday evening. They tell about the possible impact of Hurricane Florence when it arrives on Friday. The only question is where the hurricane will make landfall. The spaghetti maps chart predicted spots ranging from the mid-Virginia coast to the extreme northern part of Florida. The vast majority of predictions concentrate on the coasts of South and North Carolina. That landfall will channel expected winds of 145 mph into the affected area. Storm surge and the brutal force of the wind will tear apart the coastal communities. Charleston, S.C., is telling citizens to begin preparations now. So are Myrtle Beach, S.C., 95 miles north of Charleston, and many communities along the North Carolina coastline. The biggest hurricane to hit South Carolina directly was Hurricane Hugo in 1989. It hammered Charleston and moved inland to wound Co...