A city is without power for a week? Puerto Rico was for months.

Didn’t see any apparent storm damage but locals were worried that they weren’t out of the woods yet. My brother in law who lives there said Charleston is VERY prone to flooding...some of the downtown is below sea level.

This looks like a fairly new development. Did the homeowners know they were buying a house in a flood plain? Same thing in Houston. Neighborhoods built in flood plains. Sure it might be a once in a 100 year event, but how do they know when that event in the 100 years will occur. Plus they make no contingency efforts to mitigate flooding, like canals, flood ponds, dikes. Just let the developers build wherever they want. We pay for this in disaster relief, flood insurance premiums and other expenses the state and US gov't cover.

Just so mind blowing when you see something like this that should not have happened.

and the same argument was made. Then the paths shifted and the storms started hitting FL and the Gulf states so the Carolinas caught a break.

So it seems during that lull period, those who rebuilt or chose to build there, decided to do so by raising the houses on stilts (at least those right along the coasts) and although I haven't seen any recent pics, these may have survived just fine. The problem however, are those more inland around the river basins, where it seems to be similar to what happened in Houston and building developments (including McMansions) right smack up against the reservoirs and watersheds, and that's where you saw the major flood damage as those reservoirs (which were created as large "dry" tree-filled basins) were completely inundated and spilled over into the surrounding neighborhoods. And yes, the mentality was - "let the states decide".

The only thing keeping it from reorganizing is wind shear. But it is still drifting closer and may start throwing more showers at the Carolinas and the disturbance is certainly churning up the surf at the coast. It also has a potential to become a Tropical depression at some point depending on the conditions. What makes it worse at this time too, is the full moon, so the tides are running higher than usual.

I remember my ex calling it Ivan the 2nd.

It's just a CAT 1 - 2 hurricane. Worries over.

Hurricane Florence forms far out over Atlantic, poses no immediate threat to land


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and that raises rates for many many Americans as carriers seek to recoup losses. Plus all the automobiles, and all the personal possessions to be replaced or irreplaceable.

There's a hard rain coming.