Matt Drudge issued a dire warning about Hurricane Florence over the weekend, Tweeting that the storm has the potential of being “the worst natural disaster in recorded history for the Carolinas and Virginia.”
The governors of North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia have all declared states of emergency ahead of the arrival of Florence, which strengthened to a Category 4 storm Monday morning.
If Drudge’s prediction holds true, the damage would be monstrous. Currently, the costliest hurricane on record to strike Virginia was Camille in 1969, which caused nearly $1.5 billion in damage after making landfall as a Category 5 over Mississippi and Louisiana. The costliest hurricane on record to strike the Carolinas was Charley in 2004, which left $16.9 billion in damage in its wake.
Notably, much of the damage caused by Camille in Virginia was due to flash flooding, for which few people were prepared. A total of 153 people died from blunt trauma sustained during mountain slides related to flash flooding, including 21 members of the same family. The number of deaths in Nelson County, Virginia amounted to over 1 percent of the county’s population at the time.
Unfortunately, Florence could cause much of the same damage – and then some. According to a tweet from the National Hurricane Center, Florence carries an increasing risk of life-threatening “storm surge at the coast and freshwater flooding from a prolonged heavy rainfall event inland.”
Here are the key messages on Hurricane #Florence as of 5pm EDT. Florence is expected to become a major hurricane tomorrow, and there is an increasing risk of coastal storm surge flooding and freshwater flooding from heavy prolonged rainfall when the hurricane approaches the U.S. pic.twitter.com/SqfUHdFCvE
— National Hurricane Center (@NHC_Atlantic) September 9, 2018
Flood warnings and watches are already in effect across the Mid-Atlantic. Flooding in the Old Town section of Alexandria, Virginia began Sunday, with some people needing to be rescued by boat and helped to their cars. The City of Alexandria distributed sandbags to residents Monday morning in anticipation of more flooding.
Shortly after Drudge’s tweet, meteorologist Eric Holthaus shared that all models are predicting Florence will make landfall in North Carolina late Thursday night.
Every model we have is now on board with Hurricane #Florence making landfall in North Carolina late Thursday night.
Time to lock it in.
The main questions are now:
How strong? — likely Category 4
How long? — likely lingering for 3-4 days after landfall = major flood threat pic.twitter.com/TzWJ8Cc1kK— Eric Holthaus (@EricHolthaus) September 10, 2018
Holthaus followed that up by sharing that Florence will be “about the size of North Carolina when it arrives.”
OK you guys, my intention is not to scare anyone with this message.
But Hurricane #Florence—the storm bound for North Carolina—is going to be about the size of North Carolina when it arrives.
This is what it will look like, according to the latest high-res model prediction: pic.twitter.com/B8vCm3FDi6
— Eric Holthaus (@EricHolthaus) September 10, 2018
Be smart, be safe, be prepared, and please pray for Virginia and the Carolinas as Florence approaches.
