Killer Hurricane Matthew.. Leaves a Trail of Death, Destruction From Haiti to NC Now Downgraded to Post Tropical Storm Going Out To Sea. Clean Up... Rivers Still Rising. Swift Water Rescues in NC. Please Give to the Red Cross http://www.redcross.org/

Morning Visible from NRL of what's left of Matthew

So Matthew is now Post Tropical.

Because it merged with the front....

Winds were 75 MPH still.

Going to put info on Matthew at top.

My thoughts are at the bottom.

I wanted to write a bit this morning.

Not much to forecast or discuss.

I know Nicole is there. 

Promise I will discuss Nicole.

Matthew is still creating weather and tragedy in real time.

NWS watches and warnings.

Matthew has been officially written off.

Last cone:

Out to Sea.

It left a flood behind and the rivers are still rising.

A massive clean up in 5 states along the coast.

Only real interaction between Matthew and Nicole..

Outflow behind Matthew pushed Nicole South.

Jury is out on how that plays out ...

Here in Raleigh I'm fine.

Lucky to have electric.

Some of my friends do not...

Be clear there is damage here.

I'll take a walk in a bit and look around.

Some homes were trashed by falling pines.

Some friends have water in their yards.

A friend lost her porch.

One left the house to go to a friends...

...good thing a pine tree fell into her bedroom later in the day.

I'm feeling blessed today.

Blessed by blue skies and cool air.

Very aware how bad it is in some places.

I live in an area called North Raleigh.

Actually called North Ridge... 

So as it's built higher up we don't get much flooding.

But it depends on the road, the creeks ..street by street.

Amazing isn't it?

I lay in bed yesterday staring out that window.

Watching tropical storm conditions.

Pines dancing, dark skies... rain...wind.

This morning the storm is gone. Moved on.

Most beautiful blue skies we've had in weeks.

And it's cold it was 55 degrees this morning.

Autumn is officially here.

Hurricane Matthew like many before turns the switch.

That's what hurricanes in October do...

Current warnings up in NC...

And across the East Coast...

Hurricane Matthew gave some extra power to the Front.

The Cold Front that caught it..

As for Nicole this is what the models show:

North bound and then out to sea.

Slow movement down in the Atlantic.

Watch it just in case something odd happens.

Actually Nicole forming in the shear outflow of Matthew was odd.

But won't go there right now. Not sure how that storm formed.

Negative conditions to say the least. 

But it's there.

So are other waves the NHC are watching.

Some models develop the Caribbean wave a bit..

Again Matthew caught the trof .. top center.

Nicole down below bright and colorful.

A wave in the Caribbean being watched.

The wave that left Africa is in mid ocean.

And back in the Carolinas we are in After the Storm mode.

So many stories to tell this morning yet I'm still absorbing it all myself here in Raleigh. I'm in the part of town that got the storm but it's not flooded and very few trees are down. There are tree limbs in lots of places, branches torn off from the distant storm that made landfall in South Carolina. And then it's outflow carrying strong winds and rain marched through North Carolina as many knew it would. That's been the fear here. A good part of the Carolinas have had problems with flooding rain this year and last for that matter. A few weeks ago they had flooding in Fayetteville and other inland areas. We call it the Sandhills though the flooding is closer to Raleigh that is built higher up on the ledge of the Piedmont. Hills and creeks don't mix well when you get a hurricane moving inland. And down by the coast in the tidal river basins the water rises out of the banks and across the highways and into people's homes and lives. People have died and many are still missing. This is an unfolding drama similar to but not the same as Hurricane Floyd in 1999.

This is an important issue. Saw this tweet and saved it.

Before hurricane warnings hundreds and thousands of people died.

Here in the US a hurricane slammed into people unaware ...

Now we ARE aware but sometimes the message gets lost.

CNN was doing election news.

MSNBC and FOX began talking on the hurricane ...

The Twitter Feed you have is dependent upon your interests.

Unless you have many weather people in your feed...

... you are hearing about other things around the world.

In the old days everyone watched the nightly news.

They lived and died by the nightly news.

Now we have better information yet it gets lost ...

...sometimes in social media and other news.

One local older weather met played down Matthew in Raleigh.

One calmly talked on the dangers even in Raleigh.

Which met do you choose to watch?

Someone on Ocracoke is tweeting serious flooding.

Not expected to be that high and higher than they've seen ever.

The historic part of this will be firmed up in time.

A massive dome of water pushed ahead of the storm.

Hatteras Island is under water in parts.

That was barely spoken of as a possibility.

The storm would turn, loop and do a Fujiwara dance.

Yet the cone from the NHC had a part of it by OBX.

When you live in NC and you see Wilmington in the Cone..

..you should go "oh.. well, it might pull more to the North"

But everyone was lost in the round, circle of the cone.

The cone verified and parts of NC did get Matthew.

See?

Later in real time they moved the cone.

Always check back for the new cone. Always.

Again Tuesday's cone shown above. 

Had they only stayed with that cone track...

Once you are in the cone ...

...you keep checking back.

It's not all clear until it's clear the hurricane has gone out to sea.

This is how perception is part of the problem.

The NHC does a good job.

The NWS does an awesome job.

In Raleigh the strong winds hit exactly when they predicted.

Yet people are looking at sound bites.

Watching coverage on TWC of it pounding the coast.

And again inland flooding was not played up as much...

...as much as it SHOULD HAVE BEEN.

Again weather people by the beach is a sexy shot.

Showing the back roads of SC and NC are not.

But for those who risked driving home or out to the store during Matthew I wish there had been more discussion of the flooding that would happen inland in NC. A lot of transient people here who work in the farms or for large companies based in NC. Many have moved here over the last five years or so when magazines showed the area as the "Best Place to Live" and they were not aware of how Hurricanes work. People waited too late to leave, people thought the roads weren't that bad yet. The Governor begged people to stay off the roads but many had to go to work and as the hurricane was hitting down by the coast doing some Fujiwara dance with Nicole and we were not under a Hurricane Warning employers make their "workers" come in to work. Going to work is often not as difficult as leaving work as winds are higher then you thought they would be and the creek is rising.

People have died and let's say at least 4 have died in NC alone and again people are missing so I don't like to give totals until it's over. Governor of NC spoke at a Press Conference this morning about a nurse on her way home from work whose car got flooded in the highway and clung to a tree until she was rescued. Another woman driving down a road found her car swept off the road as a creek nearby was flooding and she died. Some survive, others die. Luckily every hurricane less people die as we have early warning of these powerful storms. And yet, people die and people often perceive hurricane information differently. One person hears a hurricane is coming, they evaluate whether to stay or evacuate and then go to Kroger and shop accordingly. Round these parts Kroger is our Publix though Publix is moving in store by store. Another person sees the storm fell apart down by Jax and was no longer a Cat 4 and they are sure it won't be a problem anymore. Why? It's such a disconnect with the reality and the warnings and yet it is human nature to either be terrified of the storm or laugh it off and think it won't be much.

Time goes by and yet the story remains the same. Areas prone to flooding flood and it's not just in Hurricane country but in the vast heartland of America where spring flooding is a yearly issue when snow melts off and rivers rise. Why do people live by rivers? Seriously people do ask that so I'm going to explain how geography meets history. A good reminder perhaps of when you were small in school and they explained how the settlers moved about after arriving in America. My teacher in grade school had this great poster with pilgrim settlers, Indians and towns along the river. Sadly I can't find it online but she explained the "Fall towns" along the rivers. The rivers made navigation and trade possible. You used the river to get your product from your farm down to the city where it was sold and put onto a ship that sailed away somewhere else to sell it. At some point way down the road you got paid, til then life was a barter system.

Remember last night I put up a map like this?

That's early America. That's the heart of hurricane country.

Google it and you see grids of pics like this:

http://www.virginiaplaces.org/regions/fallcolonial.html

Shame they don't teach history as much as they used to and Thank God for Thanksgiving or kids might not learn about the early days when Europeans first came to America and made friends with the Native Americans. And back then hurricanes happened and many settlements were destroyed and the settlers that survived moved their settlement inland further from the coast and further from the river. The Capital of NC used to be in New Bern down by the coast and it was moved inland to Raleigh for many reasons but am sure one of the main reasons was they were tired of cleaning up after Hurricanes. It's prettier in New Bern and more boring in the Piedmont but safer in the long run for a young government trying to govern a large piece of real estate stretching all the way to Tennessee.

Rivers provided fuel for mills, fish to eat, a way to travel from town to town and they were the backbone of life. Then we damned up a lot of the rivers made pretty lakes and tried to control the flood patterns and in general it worked well. Until a big hurricane comes by and blows all normal away.

Floyd... Irene... Matthew... the list goes on and on.. Memorable names in NC.



Hurricane Irene 2011 at the coast...



Hurricane Irene inland 20122...



Fast forward to 2016 Hurricane Matthew. People are without electric, without phone service and under boil water orders ...works well if you have gas or you can use the burner on your BBQ grill.



Inside a building... with the kayak, the only way to get around in some parts today.



So being honest. People here are excited that NASCAR is on today, postponed from yesterday, and Carolina Panthers play without Cam which is very sad as he is injured with the remnants of a concussion from being the target of every defensive player this year .. very sadly. The mall may or may not open. People are cleaning up. I95 is open but many small major roads in the Triangle and down near Rocky Mount and the Sandhills are still closed. Favorite piers were washed away and most people in Raleigh see the coast as their summer time back yard.



The Fair is coming and it looks like it will be Hurricane Free and the weather will be fine. I didn't go last year, I think I will this year. It's North Carolina...

And it's fall... autumn... falling fast I'd say towards winter. I'm putting leggings on to take a walk.. think about it. Life goes on but for some life doesn't go on and many will mourn people they lost and homes that were destroyed and need rebuilding. From Daytona up through the Outer Banks Matthew left a trail of destruction. Coastal dunes eroded, homes flooded and massive big oak trees down next to fallen palms. Please give to the Red Cross or any organization you know well that is delivering food and help to people in need. And across NC many are going to Red Cross shelters today as their homes were flooded by Matthew and for years to come the flood from Hurricane Matthew will be compared to the flooding from Hurricane Floyd. Hopefully you have plans for a nice Columbus Day Weekend. Please remember those in need and that includes Haiti where the death toll is climbing.

http://www.redcross.org/

Besos BobbiStorm
@bobbistorm on Twitter.

Ps I'll fix any typos in real time later. Need to move about, clean up and go for a walk.