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FAYETTEVILLE, N.-C. – Monday, in the middle of a mandatory evacuation order, residents of this city of about 200,000 flocked to a bridge east of the city to admire the rapid rise of the Fear River.
Under the first blue skies, in a few days, they took pictures of large trees and other debris heading south along a wide, muddy river to the Atlantic coast. And they remembered the devastating scenes less than two years ago during Hurricane Matthew, when the city was severely flooded and hundreds of residents had to be saved from the flooded buildings.
"I came [here] for Matthew, "said Laura Walters, a resident of Fayetteville forever, while she watched the river furious with her dog. "Just look, you know, that's the story."
Dulles Faircloth, 68, remembers her father telling stories about the Flood at Cape Fear from 1945. But the Flood of Florence is nothing like what he has ever seen. He marveled at the slow pace of the hurricane, calling it a "storm of the century" and the power of the Cape Fear River.
"This old river here can tell a lot of stories," he said on Monday.
"There are a lot of tears in this river."
Joseph Rushmore for HuffPost Laura Walters of Fayetteville is holding her dog Abby as she takes a picture of the Cape Fear River on Monday.
Many homes and buildings in the Fayetteville area have already been flooded. And the interveners carried out relief missions Sunday night, reported the Fayetteville observer. At least 31 people were killed by Florence, most of them in North Carolina.
The big difference between Matthew and Hurricane Florence, which hit the coast of North Carolina four days ago and caused devastating floods in the land, is speed. Meteorologists have warned of a Hurricane Harvey looks like a "two punches" – Catastrophic damage along the coast followed by devastating floods in the land. And that's what Florence delivered.
Where Matthew blew fast, spilling nearly 20 inches of rain on a landscape already saturated in less than a day and making Cape Fear reach 58 feet, Florence has lingered. After reaching the coast near Wilmington on Friday morning, it stagnated when it was downgraded to a tropical storm. Over a period of four days, it was rejected up to 35 inches of rain in some areas. As of 9 pm Monday, the Cape Fear River was run more than 56 feet and it was expected to mark Tuesday at 62 feet. The record of 68.9 feet was set during the famous flood of 1945.
In many ways, Florence illustrates hurricane behavior in a warming world.
Most scientists are careful not to attribute a storm to our changing climate. But the scientific community – including experts from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration – has long warned that anthropogenic climate change influence extreme weather events. The 2015 National Climate Assessment concluded that "Hurricane intensity and precipitation are expected to increase as the climate continues to warmAccording to the report, precipitation rates near central hurricanes are expected to increase by an average of 20% by the end of the century.
Joseph Rushmore for HuffPost Trees and other debris flow into the Cape Fear River in Fayetteville, North Carolina on Monday.
Research also shows that there has been marked slowdown the speed of hurricanes on water and land, which increases the risk of heavy rains, floods and storm surges. In addition, a 2016 study found that climate change has caused hurricanes in the North Atlantic to migrate further north – a trend that is expected to continue in a warming world.
On Saturday, torrential rains triggered a mandatory evacuation for everyone within two kilometers of the river near Fayetteville. The mayor of the city, Mitch Colvin, said that people refusing to leave should "inform your legal relative because the loss of life is very, very possible. "
"Please, be serious about it", He said at a press conference. "The worst is yet to come."
Despite warnings from local authorities, residents of Fayetteville, Sharon Hicks, Sally Leeman and Pat Williams, have chosen not to evacuate their homes, which are nestled along the Cape Fear River. in a cul-de-sac in the north of the city. Over the last few days, the neighbors worked three hours a week to monitor the water level. They take pictures and write each other to show how much they have appeared.
Joseph Rushmore for HuffPost Pat Williams, left, Sally Leeman and Shannon Hicks gather in front of their homes to talk about the Cape Fear River, directly behind their neighborhood.
"Do you think we'll be fine?" Asked Hicks Monday afternoon as the three went into the street.
"Oh yes," she said. "We'll just keep an eye on this, as we do."
It's not that women take the threat lightly, said Leeman. This is because they have already experienced this, are working together to follow and share information, and are ready to leave if the situation becomes dangerous. Leeman did not think he could enter a shelter either.
As the river threatened to cut off communities east of the city, members of the Army National Guard of the 230th Goldsboro Brigade Support Battalion, North Carolina, carried out a supply operation. Monday. En route, the trio of 5-ton military trucks received waves of residents meeting on the bridge over the Cape Fear River. Trucks passed flooded houses and farmland.
With the help of at least two dozen police officers and firefighters stationed at the school, the National Guard quickly unloaded water and food pallets.
Matthew Gajdos, an information officer from Dagsboro Volunteer Fire Department In Dagsboro, Delaware, the department has more than 40 firefighters in North Carolina to help with the rescue and response to help. The men and women stationed in Fayetteville, he said, are helping several local fire departments so that they can "get dry" and "rest."
"It's the thing about this county," said Gajdos. "We can disagree on things, but when it matters, we come together."
Joseph Rushmore for HuffPost Members of the North Carolina Guard load water on a truck in Fayetteville, North Carolina on Monday.
Floods continue in North Carolina and South Carolina. At Lumberton, about 30 miles southwest of Fayetteville, a fortune reinforcement of the dike broke out Sunday, Flooding poor neighborhoods who were inundated during Hurricane Matthew in October 2016. And at Fair Bluff, who also did not recover from Matthew's destruction, started filling the main street Monday.
Faircloth said Florence had been another telling experience for the people of North Carolina.
"You never feel safe once you've crossed one of them," he said. "It always makes you appreciate things in life better. I think it makes you appreciate your family, your God, everything around you. And never take anything for granted. Never."
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