The storm, which is still more than 650 miles (1,046 kilometers) from the coast, is expected to make landfall late Thursday or Friday and then stall, dropping as much as 30 inches of rain on North Carolina. The storm may trigger “catastrophic flash flooding,” according to the National Weather Service, and a storm surge of as much as 13 feet (4 meters).
President Donald Trump said it may be one of the worst storms ever to strike the U.S., after getting briefed by the leaders of the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management.
“What we are learning now, what we have been learning over the years, is that it is the size that also matters,’’ said Dan Kottlowski, meteorologist with AccuWeather Inc. in State College, Pennsylvania.
Unlike Hurricane Hazel, which made landfall near the North Carolina-South Carolina border in 1954 and quickly moved through the region, Florence is coming straight on and will stick around for days, said Joel Myers, founder of AccuWeather. He said the storm is bigger than average, and pegs the potential costs at $30 billion.
“What we are learning now, what we have been learning over the years, is that it is the size that also matters,’’ said Dan Kottlowski, meteorologist with AccuWeather Inc. in State College, Pennsylvania.
Unlike Hurricane Hazel, which made landfall near the North Carolina-South Carolina border in 1954 and quickly moved through the region, Florence is coming straight on and will stick around for days, said Joel Myers, founder of AccuWeather. He said the storm is bigger than average, and pegs the potential costs at $30 billion.
“This is a slow-moving storm,” Myers said. “It is still going to be in western North Carolina on Monday.’’
In preparation for Florence, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Acting Administrator Andrew Wheeler approved emergency fuel waiver requests on Tuesday as “extreme and unusual fuel supply circumstances exist in portions” of the Carolinas. The waiver will remain effective through Sept. 15 to help ensure decent supply of gasoline.
As North Carolina residents brace for the storm, shelves at a Walmart Inc. store outside Raleigh, were cleared of supplies Tuesday. An Exxon Mobil Corp. station near Raleigh-Durham International Airport had cars lined up four deep at the pumps, before they were shut off later in the day. Bloomberg
