Waiting for the Hurricane Florence
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 Columbia and Charlotte, N.C. The storm caused an estimated $7 billion of damage in the United States. Here's the main point to remember when analyzing Hugo to predict Florence's impact: Hugo's top winds in South Carolina were 120 mph, not the 145-mph gales expected with this week's storm.
We live 227 miles inland from Charleston and 265 miles from Myrtle Beach. The winds will be lessened when they hit land, and that gives us 200-plus miles of mitigating factors. Still, the projections for our Friday night are daunting. Winds might still be about 70 mph. That makes me wonder whether all the forested land we left on both sides and behind our house will be ravaged. Will all the sweet gums and tall trees topple? The other major threat is rain. Many forecasts call for Florence to either stall or do a wild set of swirls over the coastal states rather than driving straight through South Carolina and damaging northern Georgia and Tennessee. That stalling led to much of the devastation when Hurricane Harvey hovered over Houston and south Texas. Will the road that leads most directly into the main part of Anderson be flooded? There already is a considerable amount of water in Lake Hartwell, and a deluge likely will cause the lake to overrun its banks. The road out of here runs between two parts of the lake. We can go on that road in the other direction, but other routes into town might face flooding issues from the lake at other locations or small streams such as Six and Twenty Creek.
Our plan is to hunker down and hope trees don't fall on our house. We don't have to worry about power lines falling because all utilities in our subdivision are underground. We have provisions to ride out the storm. I am not the type to panic unless the situation calls for it. We will be okay. I can't promise, but I feel good about our prospects.
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 Columbia and Charlotte, N.C. The storm caused an estimated $7 billion of damage in the United States. Here's the main point to remember when analyzing Hugo to predict Florence's impact: Hugo's top winds in South Carolina were 120 mph, not the 145-mph gales expected with this week's storm.
We live 227 miles inland from Charleston and 265 miles from Myrtle Beach. The winds will be lessened when they hit land, and that gives us 200-plus miles of mitigating factors. Still, the projections for our Friday night are daunting. Winds might still be about 70 mph. That makes me wonder whether all the forested land we left on both sides and behind our house will be ravaged. Will all the sweet gums and tall trees topple? The other major threat is rain. Many forecasts call for Florence to either stall or do a wild set of swirls over the coastal states rather than driving straight through South Carolina and damaging northern Georgia and Tennessee. That stalling led to much of the devastation when Hurricane Harvey hovered over Houston and south Texas. Will the road that leads most directly into the main part of Anderson be flooded? There already is a considerable amount of water in Lake Hartwell, and a deluge likely will cause the lake to overrun its banks. The road out of here runs between two parts of the lake. We can go on that road in the other direction, but other routes into town might face flooding issues from the lake at other locations or small streams such as Six and Twenty Creek.
Our plan is to hunker down and hope trees don't fall on our house. We don't have to worry about power lines falling because all utilities in our subdivision are underground. We have provisions to ride out the storm. I am not the type to panic unless the situation calls for it. We will be okay. I can't promise, but I feel good about our prospects.
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