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Usually when we talk about the potential for hurricane damage, nosotros talk virtually the impact of storm surges and high winds — both of which are, to be certain, incredibly dangerous in their own right. But last year's Hurricane Harvey demonstrated that tremendous damage can be dealt when a storm system sits in place and dumps huge amounts of rain. Now, there are signs that Hurricane Florence could deliver a like blow to the E Coast beginning on Thursday, making it even more of import to evacuate before the storm arrives.

There's some practiced news cached in the updated weather forecast. Once projected to make landfall as a Category 4 storm with the potential to reach Category 5, forecasters now believe Flo volition agree at least a Category two rating as information technology approaches state. The problem is, Flo is now expected to stall out over the Carolinas before slowly moving inland. Hurricane's typically lose power relatively chop-chop one time they make landfall, simply a stalled-out hurricane tin recharge itself from warmer littoral waters while simultaneously dumping huge amounts of water on the already-inundated southeast.

Instead of pushing directly towards states like Westward Virgina, Kentucky, or Indiana (post-obit a generally northwest track from its initial landfall), Florence may now stall out on summit of Southward Carolina before moving westward or southwest towards Georgia, Alabama, and Florida. A high-pressure ridge over the Central and Eastern US is said to be blocking the storm's farther motion along its original vectors, though it could still curve again once over land. The graph below shows how Florence'due south forecast changed from Tuesday to Wednesday night:

The tempest's possible rails now bends farther to the SW and closer to cities like Jacksonville, but information technology's the delay and the possible echo of a Harvey-like storm cycle that has officials and conditions forecasters worried. It's already been raining in these areas and the ground is sodden. Information technology'south not clear yet where the storm will park, just local forecasts have predicted some areas could receive 30-forty inches of rain depending on where the storm sits. Flash floods volition be a major problem for some areas, and the overall flooding could exist catastrophic.

If you're in the path of this storm, go out of it. Pack your stuff into the attic and your car, grab the preferred kids, pets, and spouse, and caput inland. With the tempest expected to "stick" on the high-force per unit area ridge, moving n, west, or northwest seems to be safest. Harvey was an excellent example of how the rain from a hurricane can be its own tremendous danger, and there'due south no bespeak in taking chances.

Stay safe.

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