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Michael Schwartz, left, and Jay Schwartz get plywood over the windows of their company before Hurricane Florence arrived on September 11, 2018 in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.(Photo: Getty Images)
Although the focus is on Hurricane Florence draws attention, another threat could be the worst impact of this monster storm: a catastrophic flood after several days of rain.
"It seems like an important episode of flooding is happening in the Middle East region," said meteorologist Mike Smith. "It is likely that some areas are flooding that have never been flooded before."
With "monumental" rainfall of up to 40 inches, "Florence's rain could break rain-storm records for a hurricane or tropical storm," said weather forecaster Jeff Masters of Weather Underground. He could potentially become the "Harvey of the East Coast".
Although storm winds are likely to decrease rapidly after touchdown, heavy rains will persist as they overfly parts of North Carolina and Virginia.
"All indications are that the storm will slow down and simply crawl or cross the interior sections and the shoreline of Piedmont," said Bryan Norcross, expert of Hurricane Weather Channel. "We do not know exactly where the center will go, but it's not really relevant, it's more like a (hurricane) Harvey situation, where you'll just have to slow down."
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Last year, Harvey landed north of Corpus Christi, then landed over the Houston area, dropping up to 5 feet of rain in the metropolitan area.
"It will be worse than a Harvey in the sense that the pitch is not like Houston, which is flat.If you put 2, 3, 4 feet of rain on flat ground, you have some problem .
"But if you put a foot or two – or maybe in some isolated places – rain on the hills and mountains, you have a very different problem that is really more dangerous than the flat situation, no matter how bad it is. " he said.
Norcross said the soggy summer would aggravate the floods: "And then you add to that that there have been heavy rains in the Mid-Atlantic this year and that the soil is quite saturated," he said.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, several places in the Atlantic and the Northeast have recorded one of their wettest summers. This includes the towns on the way to Florence, such as Wilmington and Cape Hatteras in North Carolina and Norfolk, Virginia.
"As I tweeted with Harvey last year, it's important to understand the potential boost from Hurricane Florence," said Marshall Shepherd, a meteorologist at the University of Georgia. "All the shock of a major hurricane (category 4 or higher), then maybe 30 to 40 inches of rain if the storm gets stuck." I found that people were struggling with Part 2 . "
"Prepare NOW to evacuate you and your family" Shepherd tweeted on Monday. "If you receive an evacuation order, please comply immediately before the roads are clogged and chaos begins."
Contributor: Rick Neale, Florida Today
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