Just got an e-mail request to post-up some info from Brankin, who's at a friend's house who has a generator, but no PC.
Duke Energy's "Hurricane Florence Power Restoration Timeline":
Direct link to above page on Duke's website (in larger PDF format), with breakdown/key of estimated restoration times for the 12 geographical areas in NC and SC shown on the map:
I’m on Duke Power in zone 8 on the map above. Our power blinked several times Friday evening and a couple of times yesterday, but never went off. That’s a miracle as normally it seems a stiff breeze can knock the power out for an hour or two.
I'm in zone 12. Power has been out since 1:58 pm on Thursday. From previous experiences, it should've stayed on longer, especially considering the tree removal and tree trimming around powerlines that's been a recent fetish.
Taking into consideration Court's mention of Duke turning down several large contractors, as well as reports from local people that Duke trucks are just sitting waiting for orders to move, I concur - THANKS Duke!!! I hope you're really saving $$$ to offset the coal ash spill fiasco costs...
Another long day of persistent rains across southern and eastern #NCwx, which can't take anymore water. Flash and River Flooding continues and will likely get worse throughout the day. Please remain patient, and limit travel as best as possible.
8:40 pm update... Heavy rain will continue across the Piedmont this evening/overnight. Many creeks and streams are reaching their bankfull and roads are quickly becoming covered by water. Travel will be dangerous tonight.
LUMBERTON, N.C. – Dams overflowed, dozens of roads flooded and whole neighborhoods were inundated as unrelenting rain from Tropical Depression Florence continued to fall over North Carolina.
The flooding could worsen as Florence crawls westward, dumping more than 30 inches (75 centimeters) of rain in some spots since Thursday afternoon. Radar showed parts of the sprawling storm over six states, with North and South Carolina in the bull's-eye.
Many residents who stayed in their homes to ride out the storm now face evacuation orders because of rising flood waters, days after Florence made landfall Friday with 90 mph (145 kph) winds.
Water on the Cape Fear River, which passes through Fayetteville, kept rising Sunday, reaching more than 41 feet (12.5 meters), according to the National Weather Service. Streams and creeks were running so high Sunday in the area around Charlotte, North Carolina's biggest city, that the National Weather Service declared a flash flood emergency.
Roads to Wilmington were cut off by the epic deluge and muddy river water swamping entire neighborhoods miles (kilometers) inland.
Florence weakened to a tropical depression Sunday, but that is cold comfort to residents in North Carolina who have seen over 2 feet of rain and are now battling major-river flooding and possible tornadoes.
"Flood waters are still raging across parts of our state, and the risk to life is rising with the angry waters," North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said at a midday news conference.
He added that "this storm has never been more dangerous than it is right now" in certain areas of the state.
Some parts of the state were getting 2 to 3 inches an hour, Cooper said.
"That's enough to cause flooding in areas that have never flooded before until now," Cooper said.
Since the storm made landfall as a hurricane in North Carolina on Friday morning, it has been blamed for 16 deaths.
Officials said at least 17 people have died in both states. The death toll included a person killed Sunday in a pickup truck crash near Gilbert, South Carolina, that occurred when the motorist drove through standing water on a roadway, according to the South Carolina Department of Public Safety.
Hundreds of people have been rescued by local authorities, Cajun Navy volunteers and the U.S. Coast Guard since Friday morning.
New evacuation orders were issued Sunday for a mile-long area along the Cape Fear and Little rivers in North Carolina. More than 700,000 households and businesses in the state were still without power as of Sunday afternoon, an estimated 15,000 people were in shelters, and 171 primary roads were closed including parts of two interstates, authorities said.
The state Highway Patrol advised people to stay off the roads, saying troopers responded to 48 collisions from Saturday night and into Sunday morning.
Adding to the threat of further flooding, a tornado watch was in effect for most of Sunday for the areas of Wilmington, Fayetteville, Myrtle Beach, Jacksonville, Oak Island, and Florence.
"It's bad right now, and we do expect it to get worse over the coming days," Michael Sprayberry, director of North Carolina Emergency Management, said on ABC's "This Week" Sunday. "We know that's going to be a major mission going forward because this is historic and unprecedented flooding."
Catastrophic flooding unfolded Sunday morning in parts of North Carolina, exceeding flooding 19 years ago in Hurricane Floyd. the National Weather Service said.
One waterway, the Cape Fear River, rose 15 feet in just 24 hours from early Saturday to early Sunday. It reached flood stage in Fayetteville, North Carolina, where mandatory evacuation orders were issued Saturday.
"This will be very dangerous flooding over the next few days," the National Weather Service said in a tweet Sunday morning.
The Coast Guard head echoed this view.
"My biggest concern is the rising water," Schultz said on "This Week," noting that Wilmington, North Carolina, got 24 inches of rain and could potentially get 15 inches more.
"We're looking at a high water situation," he said. "The rivers could potentially crest here into the early part of this week. So, we have not seen the worst of the flooding."
The Lumber River, near Lumberton, North Carolina, rose to into major flood stage Sunday. It is expected to reach a level very near the record Hurricane Matthew set in 2016. Mandatory evacuations were issued for South Lumberton on Saturday.
Major river flooding is also expected on some rivers from southern Virginia to northern South Carolina.
The Northeast Cape Fear River, near Chinquapin, North Carolina, will rise above record flood levels set by Hurricane Floyd in 1999. This will cause devastating flooding across much of Onslow County with travel made impossible and many homes completely flooded.
The Neuse River, both near Goldsboro and Kinston, North Carolina, will reach major flood stage late Sunday and into Monday. The Waccamaw River, near Conway, South Carolina, will rise near record levels by the end of the week.
Florence has dropped a tremendous amount of rain in eastern North Carolina, with a widespread 20 to 30 inches reported already. Radar is estimating that some areas between Wilmington and New Bern, North Carolina, have received over 30 inches of rain.
These are some of the latest rainfall totals as of 11 p.m. on Saturday:
These poor souls were ignorant. I only hope we can bail them out. My wife has been rolling her eyes for days. Ever since she saw a clip of the first ones whining.
A lot of people chose to ignore sound advice. I imagine a FEW of them had no choice. But it still did not reach the epic stupidity of Katrina and New Orleans.
Best hope for all. Maybe next time they will listen. And those that chose to stay out of stupidity should have to pay for their rescue.
We lost power at 4 this morning, not expected to get it back until 10 tomorrow night. Presently running the office, both fridges, internet, microwave, fans etc. on gen power.
Digging out of our neighborhood this morning:
This is Good Neighbor Blanche and Good Neighbor Jim:
We had a biggish tree in this group that got hung up in some other trees as it fell and ended up hanging out over the road about 10-12' off the ground. We got it down safely.
All these trees are actually on Blue Ridge Parkway land, and normally we don't touch stuff up here (this is one of the access roads that leads into our neighborhood), but we made an exception this morning.
