[Westside]

Well, it looks like Hurricane Florence will make landfall by tomorrow morning in the Carolinas. I'm hoping Jarons has gotten out of dodge. Wilmington, NC had a mandatory evacuation. Here is a live webcam located at the fishing pier in Carolina Beach. A few years ago, I stayed in the last beach house on the street located right beside the pier on the right. Occationally, the house will be in the video. Hopefully, everything will survive the storm, and there will be very little property damage and no loss of life.


http://surfchex.com/cams/carolina-beach-web-cam/

[Jarons]

I left Tuesday, I am at my mom's in Worthington. All counties along the coastline had a mandatory evacuation order placed on Tuesday. Currently safe and sound in KY. Hopefully I can return Sunday or Monday. According to the locals I talked to before I left said it may be several weeks before I can return. We shall see, everything is a big "What if."

[Granny Bear]

It always is in hurricanes!

One piece of good news, instead of intensifying to a Cat 5 it has decreased to a Cat 2. Hopefully with the winds diminishing some it will reduce some of the storm surge and erosion. Now all you need to worry about is the 2 feet of rain!

[Jarons]

My wife had to stay, to being essential personnel (one of perks of being married to a nurse they are on the front lines with police and emt in emergency situations) last report from her was that wind were beginning to pick up and we lost some branches from our tree already. She is already at her post for the storm in City Hall, one of the safer buildings in the areas. Flooding is already beginning in Eastern NC. It's going to be a long 3 days. Storm is supposed to stall and forecasting feet of rain.

[Granny Bear]

I know!! If you're lucky, by the time Florence moves some, it will come and see you in Kentucky!!!

Flooding is going to be horrendous. Some forecasts are giving FEET of rain.

[Jarons]

The amount of flooding that is occurring already is incredible. New Bern, which is about 40 miles inland has already begun to flood.

[Wildcatk23]

My wife had to stay, to being essential personnel (one of perks of being married to a nurse they are on the front lines with police and emt in emergency situations) last report from her was that wind were beginning to pick up and we lost some branches from our tree already. She is already at her post for the storm in City Hall, one of the safer buildings in the areas. Flooding is already beginning in Eastern NC. It's going to be a long 3 days. Storm is supposed to stall and forecasting feet of rain.

Prayers and Positive thoughts your way buddy.

[Jarons]

Things are quite dicey right now in Jacksonville, NC. Wind gusts have been in the upper 80's. My wife said it sounds like a train just outside the building. Florence is supposed to staying around until Sunday.

[Jarons]

Just saw the latest update from the local news. The eye of the hurricane brushed by North Topsail this morning. Hurricane force winds will leave Jacksonville around noon today. Tropical storm force winds will remain several more hours. 24 more inches of rain forecasted. My wife will be going to work the shelter later today via our military. New Bern, a city about 40 miles north of Jacksonville has major flooding. It's up to the second floor of buildings.

[Granny Bear]

I saw some film from New Bern this morning taken from 4th story of a parking garage. There were cars under water so deep that you could barely make out what they were.

Some locales are estimating 46" of rain before all this is over. Four FEET of rain. It boggles my mind!

[Jarons]

My wife was driven to the shelter she was assigned to. The roof was blown off of that school. She said it looks like a war zone. Telephone poles snapped like toothpicks roofs blown off houses. A man I used to work with had a large branch to go through his roof into his house. No word on my house yet. Trying to figure out if I can go back on Monday.

[Wildcatk23]

I have some friends that live in New Burn and evacuated. The video from there is insane. I know some people was not able to evacuate and will be lives lost in this storm. Very Sad.

[Granny Bear]

I can't imagine getting 3-4 feet of rain! There would be NOTHING left in this county but a deep deep lake!!

[Jarons]

I have some friends that live in New Burn and evacuated. The video from there is insane. I know some people was not able to evacuate and will be lives lost in this storm. Very Sad.

I work near New Bern. From the looks of pictures it will be 2 weeks at best that I get to go back to work. Two high schools in Onslow County has been damaged. I haven't heard anything about the schools my kids attend. It could be weeks before school starts again.

[Jarons]

I can't imagine getting 3-4 feet of rain! There would be NOTHING left in this county but a deep deep lake!!

That would not be too far from the truth. Lots of water in the region.

[Granny Bear]

Florence is no longer a hurricane. BUT it's traveling at 3 mph and the rains are torrential. It may have been down graded but it's still producing tons of rainfall!!

[Wildcatk23]

My buddy in new burn let me know that his house had water 6 feet deep in it . I’ll be leaving Sunday for work to help repair the cable system. I also could help if u need anything jarons .

[Jarons]

My buddy in new burn let me know that his house had water 6 feet deep in it . I’ll be leaving Sunday for work to help repair the cable system. I also could help if u need anything jarons .

Thanks. I don't know when I will be going back. I have been told by more than one person that rode the storm that you may not allowed in the area until Monday at the earliest. There are many roads closed in the area and it's a possibility that will be later than Monday before they let you in the area.
They are now forecasting 50 inches of rain now. Be careful.

[Granny Bear]

Pretty sure you'll be traveling with your kids so you can't be too careful!!!

[Jarons]

Just got a report on my house. Lost 1 known shingle. However, we lost most of our fence. It is unknown if we have interior damage.

[Granny Bear]

How likely would you be to flood from ground water?

[Jarons]

Our backyard flood very easily. Our front room flooded during Hurricane Matthew. We have done some work to fix it. This is the first really heavy rain since Matthew. Without looking would guess the water that is standing in the back yard may several inches to maybe a foot deep. It's still raining hard. The winds have died significantly.

[Jarons]

Nearly all the schools in the city/county have suffered damage from the storm, including my daughter's school. I still have not about my sons' school.

[Granny Bear]

Every single time I've checked the weather today, another band of heavy storms is hitting the Wilmington area. STILL!!

I feel so badly for those folks; don't know how they are going to cope!

[Jarons]

Just some pictures of my daughter's school. It suffered significant damage inside, at least a couple of windows broke. Tree fell on one of the buildings on the campus. Who knows when school will start again. Best case two weeks. Likely longer

[Spirit100]

My sisters chose to stay and worried the heck out of all of my family. Thankfully they are all ok and are in the process of making repairs to their homes. They never went without fresh drinking water and power was restored as of last Monday.

Pretty remarkable repair job for the Atlantic Beach, Morehead City region considering the storm hit on Thursday before.

They still have a couple boats to find homes for of people who apparently didn't secure theirs well enough. One is a hobie cat sailboat and the other a very nice dual outboard carolina skiff.

[Spirit100]

To put this storm in perspective the last state Hurricane rainfall record for NC was 25 inches. Florence bested that by another 10 inches...!!!

[Jarons]

My sisters chose to stay and worried the heck out of all of my family. Thankfully they are all ok and are in the process of making repairs to their homes. They never went without fresh drinking water and power was restored as of last Monday.

Pretty remarkable repair job for the Atlantic Beach, Morehead City region considering the storm hit on Thursday before.

They still have a couple boats to find homes for of people who apparently didn't secure theirs well enough. One is a hobie cat sailboat and the other a very nice dual outboard carolina skiff.

It looks like a war zone everywhere here. I had to go through Newport to get home. It's amazing what a storm can do. I still have several days worth of work to do at my house and we have only minor damage so far. However we are waiting on the insurance adjuster to inspect our house. Things may be worse for us.
Good to hear about your sister. She live in Morehead City? She got electricity before us.

[Granny Bear]

I'm just thankful you have enough left to work on!!

What about the kids' schools?

[Jarons]

I'm just thankful you have enough left to work on!!

What about the kids' schools?

They were out 4 days the week of the hurricane. All last week and this week. A decision will be made Friday. They said it could be a few days or several weeks. They are hoping to start next week. I don't see that happening. My daughter's school alone will take more than a week to repair, there are some schools with large holes in the roofs. All 40 schools in the county had some damage.