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HURRICANE FLORENCE STRENGTHENED rapidly today and is now a powerful Category 4 hurricane, US forecasters say.
Governors of three eastern US states have declared an emergency and told residents to prepare for the storm.
The Atlantic hurricane’s maximum sustained winds have increased to nearly 195 kilometres per hour, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said in an advisory issued at 5pm Irish time.
“Florence has continued to rapidly strengthen,” it said.
Florence is expected to be an extremely dangerous major hurricane through Thursday.
Florence was 925 kilometres south-southeast of Bermuda and the centre of the hurricane was forecast to pass between Bermuda and the Bahamas on Tuesday and Wednesday, the NHC said.
It said Florence, a Category 4 storm on the five-level Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale, could approach the coast of South Carolina or North Carolina on Thursday.
Storm surge and hurricane watches may be issued tomorrow morning for portions of southeastern US states, the NHC said.
Hurricane Florence has the potential to bring catastrophic flooding to areas of the eastern United States already soaked by heavy rain and may be the strongest storm to hit the region in decades.
On its current track, Florence is expected to slam the Carolinas and Virginia the hardest, and the three states issued emergency declarations to speed preparations.
“The largest threat to life from hurricanes is not the high winds,” it said. “Flooding is the deadliest result of these storms.”
The US Navy ordered ships at its major base in Hampton Roads, Virginia, to put to sea, saying “the forecasted destructive winds and tidal surge are too great to keep the ships in port”.
Heavy rain in the Washington area over the weekend has already led to flooding in historic Alexandria, Virginia, local media reported, and the National Weather Service issued a flood watch for part of the Potomac River.
Florence is currently moving west at around 20 km/hr, and is forecast to drench a large swath of the US East Coast running from northern Florida to New Jersey.
Two more hurricanes
North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper’s office said Florence is already being felt along the state’s coast, with large sea swells resulting in life-threatening rip currents and surf.
“Everyone in North Carolina needs to keep a close eye on Florence and take steps now to get ready for impacts later this week,” Cooper said.
A mandatory evacuation was ordered for residents of Hatteras Island and some other areas of Dare County in North Carolina.
The storm “is too powerful and its path is too uncertain to take any chances,” South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster said, issuing his state’s emergency declaration.
Florence was producing large swells expected to reach from the northern Caribbean to the southern coasts of Canada’s Maritime provinces.
At this height of the Atlantic hurricane season, Florence was being trailed on east-to-west paths by two other hurricanes, Helene and Isaac.
Helene 600 kms west of the Cape Verde islands off the African coast, had winds up to 165 km/hr, and was expected to continue moving west-northwest for another couple of days, the NHC said.
Hurricane Isaac, which on Sunday became the fifth hurricane of the season, is heading west towards the Caribbean.
Isaac, which the NHC called a small hurricane, is about 1,855 kms east of the Windward Islands, a region still recovering from last year’s powerful Hurricane Maria, with maximum sustained winds near 120 km/hr.
Isaac is expected to gain strength in the next day or two before beginning to weaken mid-week when it approaches the Lesser Antilles.
Maria, which killed at least 3,057 people, most in Puerto Rico, is believed to be the third-costliest tropical cyclone on record.
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Only seemed like yesterday the values were through the floor. I emigrated during the big crash and bought property/set up shop in another country. Now I’m a happy homeowner & landlord. A fair landlord. This housing stuff in Ireland really saddens me. There will prob be a twin tier society over it. People with financial power will overpay. People without financial power will struggle so badly to live. And live in horrible conditions. Very sad. Emigrating was the hardest decision I ever made. But I’m glad I did. Previous comment is correct. Boom bust is common in some places. Usually places rich in natural resources like oil etc. But it’s not something that that suits the Irish economy. Start building high rises could be the solution here
@Ronan McDermott: well said, not convinced about high rises but you are asking the questions no one wants to answer. Fair play.
@Greedylocks: I hear you about the highrises. Ballymun didn’t work out. But on a small island you can’t always build out. Maybe time to build up. Especially in Dublin. Give people somewhere respectable to live and then you’ll see the real value of these 70s style dumps that landlords are currently renting to people at extortionate rates. The value would be sfa. I’m thinking about quality of life here. As right now it’s not very good for so so many people
@Ronan McDermott: well said.
This is an extraordinary misleading economical model. We are in a cycle of boom and bust. Eventually nobody will risk lending this country money. Vulture funds are gathering to pick the bones.
@Greedylocks: the neoliberal model can only produce boom bust cycles, where the wealthy get wealthier as money is siphoned to the top. So they can ride out the storm, unless they fail to save for the inevitable crash, and those at the bottom pay the consequences. A model based on permanent growth on a planet with finite resources, what could possibly go wrong????
@Greedylocks: the neoliberal model can only produce boom bust cycles, where the wealthy get wealthier as money is siphoned to the top. So they can ride out the storm, unless they fail to save for the inevitable crash, and those at the bottom pay the consequences. A model based on permanent growth on a planet with finite resources, what could possibly go wrong????
A model based on exploiting human vulnerabilities through advertising, and serving the market, always a volatile thing, so that the market will meet all our needs. We see the failure of it all around us and blindly elect the same parties with the same policies to do the same thing again and again as if this one time it might work…….
This has been years in the making by our FG whose primary mission has been to recapitalise the banks. The homeless crisis and the unaffordability of houses is barely a thorn in the side for them.
@Quiet Goer: Surely you mean FFG .. Media not telling the true story again at local elections as FFG lose more and more ground. The people are slowly awakening….
@Willy: sf lost the most ground
We are bubbling our way to another bust.
Note that property investment trusts are selling out now to cash in at the top of the market.
These guys know when to cash in their chips.
@William Kelly: you are correct I’m afraid we will be heading for another slump , housing prices cannot keep going up and up.
It’s only in Dublin though, most of the rest of the country are still below 2013 levels
a housing bubble inflated by the European central bank policy to give money to the banks for free. we on the other hand must pay interest on that loan and the banks make money by doing nothing.
who here knows anything about Deusch Bank?
people wanna get smart very quick to what is going on again……2007
Kensington in London, Upper East side in New York, 6th arrondissement in Paris. These Dublin prices are here to stay. It’s nothing to do with ‘neo-liberal’ policies. It’s to do with supply and demand. Why can the hard left never understand this ?
@Virgil: that’s what they said last time…..
@Gus Sheridan: even with a bust, Mt Merrion, Foxrock et al will still be the priciest housing in the country
Anyone know how many in government own second properties?
@thesaltyurchin: 15 landlords sit in the dail at any given day,but I could be wrong,FG k o Connell has 8 property’s .
Our wonderful banks must be approaching solvency so.
have your say