By: Dr. Kumar Raka, Editor-ICN & Rebecca Brindza, Edior, ICN International
Florence a strong dome steered toward the coast of the Carolinas with high pressure is forecasted to be weakened on landfall on Thursday. Although, the National Hurricane Center declares it as “life-threatening, catastrophic flash flooding with prolonged significant river flooding in areas of the Carolinas and the southern and central Appalachians late this week into early next week.”
Disastrous flooding is expected not only in coastal Carolinas, but also in the Appalachians, where heavy rain over mountainous terrain is likely to trigger mud and rockslides. National Hurricane Center Director Ken Graham warned that waterways up to 40 miles inland may flood. He added that half of fatalities during hurricanes are caused by storm surges, and another quarter of deaths are due to inland rains and flooding. It truly is really about the whole size of this storm,” National Hurricane Center Director Ken Graham says. “The larger and the slower the storm is, the greater the threat and the impact — and we have that.”
With 130 mph wind speed there are chances of large scale tree damage and power outages. Structural damage to homes and buildings can’t be ruled out. Jeff Byard, of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said: “This is going to be a Mike Tyson punch to the Carolina coast.” North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper warned that “disaster is at the doorstep”, and “tens of thousands” of buildings may be flooded. Waves 83ft (25m) tall were recorded at sea on Wednesday morning. Florence could wreak more than $170bn (£130bn) of havoc and damage nearly 759,000 homes and businesses, says analytics firm CoreLogic.
About 10 million residents in North and South Carolina and Virginia are under storm watches or warnings; About 5.25 million people live in areas under hurricane warnings or watches, and 4.9 million more live in places covered by tropical storm warnings or watches, National Weather Service says. More than 1 million residents have been ordered to evacuate regions of North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia in the face of Hurricane. But as scores of residents prepare to head for safer ground, some prison officials and sheriffs are planning to leave thousands of people in the mandatory evacuation zones behind: the prisoners, guards, and staff at a South Carolina state prison and three city jails in Virginia. Many on social media are drawing parallels with the devastating hurricane Katrina, in 2005, when thousands of inmates endured terrible conditions in a facility that had not been evacuated. “Almost 1,000 inmates were left to die in Orleans Parish Prison during hurricane Katrina,” said PhD student Bedour Alagraa in a widely shared tweet, which was also popular on Facebook. After Katrina, Human Rights Watch claimed that 517 prisoners had gone missing.
Proper attention on pets and livestock is of paramount concern, in 1999, Hurricane Floyd left hundreds of thousands of dead hogs and chickens floating in floodwaters for weeks and drowned millions of livestock after it made landfall on the North Carolina coast.
Most concerning is nuclear power plants in North and South Carolina, as well as Virginia, have been preparing for the natural onslaught. The Brunswick Nuclear Power Plant, two miles north of Southport, North Carolina will get a direct hit as per observed path of the hurricane. ‘We anticipate Hurricane Florence to be an historic storm that will impact all customers,’ said Grace Rountree, a spokeswoman for Duke. These reactors provide power to about 4 million customers in the two Carolinas. The nuclear disaster of Japan 2011 is still very fresh in our mind.
USA one of the best prepared countries for disaster and emergency management, having lessons learnt from Katrina, Haiti & Floyed with the best early warning & weather forecasting technologies needs to utilize crisis communication, evacuation & shelter management very effectively, prompt and efficient response & coordination between different response agencies is yet another challenge aftermath the landfall. This is time to stay prepared, follow the authentic communication/warnings, make yourself safe and help others.
