Waiting for Hurricane Joaquin

Going by what I read so far it is very likely to hit the U.S east coast in a couple of days

How strong it'll be then no one really knows but it is coming. I'd prepare if I'd live there.

I'll probably be on the road by the first morning hours this Monday. I didn't tell my wife yet. Need to work to pay the bills.

I work for the 2-1-1 call center in SC. We're on standby right now not because we expect a direct threat, but because of the flooding threat.

I saw on the Weather Channel that they predict between 8 and 13 inches of rain in our area over the weekend.

We have a system in the state where we can direct people to shelters if needed. We've been meeting regularly over the past few days to gameplan and prepare.

If you're in SC and need information, just dial 2-1-1.

Again, there's nothing official about what will definitely happen, we're just on standby at this point.

Christie gave a conference already. I don't know if someone can post the video. I'm replying with my phone right now.

Hey all! Good news/Bad news it seems this am.
Good news Joaquin track shifted more to the East - more offshore away from Eastern Seaboard
Bad news - we in the Carolinas are still forecasted to get our collective butts flooded due to something called the Fujiwhara Effect per my fav local wx geek twitter Brad Panovich
screen caps from his twitter feed
Fujiwhara Effect

This is the one I was talking about last night - our 2004 leaf peeping excursion

Not to make light of the situation, but I have to make light of the situation:

And now they just included the rest of SC in the flash flood watch advisory, so now most all of VA, NC, SC is under a flash flood watch. wxunderground

Wow, I feel like mother nature is collectively holding it's breath, it's so still outside.

This just posted --Ok, guess Cantore's gonna make an appearance - never a good sign!!!
per his twitter feed
10 " of rain -- ok - now it's time to just walk away from the computer.

Ok, Joaquin at 2pm was Cat 4 w/130 mph winds at 936 mb pressure source TWC Next update 5pm EDT
Ocracoke Island, NC is under mandatory evac & suspending ferry service for tourists & non-residents to Island source
SC/NC to get anywhere from 8-20" of rain source NWS Fash flood watch from Fri am to Mon am

My immediate concerns:
already saturated ground with that much rain can cause beside obvious flooding issues to houses and cars:
obvious roads/bridges washed out, esp secondary roads
retaining walls to fail - as at Boone, NC
large trees to topple with minimal wind
mud/rock slide - prime ex I40 in Asheville, NC
sinkholes - currents eroding under roadways
Dam failures - there are a lot of private lakes around here that have nothing but earthen dams, some badly neglected or forgotten; we had one upstream our property this spring/summer that DHEC finally got owners to fix; road was closed for over 3 months.
septic tank issues - saturated ground in heavy clay = hard to perk drain fields

have heard multiple chain saws running this pm in my neighborhood - we're very rural - mostly farmers - most likely doing what I've been doing - clearing ditches/ culverts so all that water can drain--gulley washer as my gran would say

But then all that water goes down stream - secondary issues of down stream river flooding; although Duke does a pretty good job controlling the Catawba River with all their Dams, I'm not sure about the other rivers across NC/SC. Any one know?

Reedy River runs thru DT Greenville
Columbia - Saluda River has Dam on Lake Murray, But Broad River also goes through Columbia, joining Saluda, not sure what flood controls it has.

Anyone else doing anything to get ready for this beast?

Just read in nj.com. Joaquin is category 4 now my friends.

a reply to: Vasa Croe

That's hilarious and ty for posting it

There are reports of a 735 foot ship that went missing near the center of the storm. Not looking good for a rescue. I believe the hurricane hunter even participated in the search for the ship.

www.weather.com...

a reply to: jrod

CNN

Still no word on the ship...

poor souls could just be rocking out there all alone no idea of where they are!

Hope they are found safe.
This update was from around 9 hours ago or so.

That hurricane is something else we have rain in GA for two weeks straight, and now we were suppose to have a nice cooler weekend and is still cool but now we got flooding warnings.

And the Alabama vs Ga game is going to be a soggy game today.

The hurricane is not even close to the coast yet.

a reply to: marg6043

It's been raining here all week!
I do not think ours is due to the hurricane though. If those two systems collide, what a mess!

Last night's high school ball was a sloppy muddy cold mess!
Tonight's UT game promises more of the same in a crowded Neyland stadium against the Razorbacks.

I sure hope you are a "bulldog"!

a reply to: TNMockingbird

Yes I am, we had a zumba show your team last night at the gym, I still have my face tattoos with go dawgs and Ga signs, it was a lot of fun, raining and cool but fun.

My daughter is a UGA alumni.

We have to blame most of the weather woes to el nino, is getting quite strong, hopefully all the dry areas in the countries will get the rain they need and more, that is the bad part of it, when the rain doesn't want to stop.

so this thing is going to threaten UK now? the hell?

i think it'll die down by then but who knows.

originally posted by: Trueman
a reply to: TNMockingbird

Here the sky is gray already and it's been a bit rainy since yesterday afternoon. Buy the groceries before the weekend will be wise.

southeast S.Carolina low country here... it's been raining since last Wednesday non stop uggh! stay safe,dry and well fed...cheers!

a reply to: TWILITE22

There goes the game in North Carolina they are under water now, here in GA we have been advised to be prepare because by the second half of the GA/AL is going to be very dangerous, we may no even get to see the second half at all.

The latest weather recon found 180mph winds at 700mb and surface winds near 155mph. Joaquin is now a strong category 4 hurricane. Fortunately it's moving away the Bahamas now and will weaken before approaching Bermuda.

www.nhc.noaa.gov...

a reply to: jrod

That is some slow moving hurricane thankfully it will stay away from land in the east coast.