Death Toll Rising Like the Flood Waters. Now at 39. Where Will It Be Tomorrow? If You See A Barricade Bless the Person That Put It There and TURN AROUND. Don't Drown Please.

That's a new river in North Carolina.

It's called I-40

It's closed.

Parts of I-95 are closed in the Carolinas today.

If you are traveling be very careful.

And do NOT go around a barricade!

Follow the detour carefully!

I'm going to keep this short today as I have many things to do as tomorrow is Yom Kippur and in truth I'm a bit tired and do not want to go long as I have done that enough with Florence. I would rather write about the beauties of North Carolina and Florida and show the beautiful side of the world but today there's a muddy grimy side of the world in parts of North Carolina where the flood waters have not yet crested nor receded. They will as that is the nature of time, you just have to wait for the tide to turn.

Some kind soul drove a truck load of kosher chicken down to North Carolina from New York so that people in Wilmington would have food for the upcoming holidays, however three miles away from getting into the city they were turned away. Such a nice gesture and but the roads in were still closed and they were told to go elsewhere ...so they did and the truck of chickens ready to be cooked for the holidays are now being cooked inland and hopefully they will get there in time to those who want some measure of normal in a world that is not normal. That is the nature of life on days that are celebrated whether the weather cooperates or not. I remember a few days after Andrew a lady drove by our street with a car filled with melting bags of ice from Palm Beach. The roads into Miami Beach were closed, but she knew the secret back road trick the locals knew taking A1A instead of going across the closed causeways. She gave us and our neighbors a bag of ice which was wonderful. More so wonderful that someone took the time to load up her car and drive it down to places where ice was needed. Sometimes in life it comes down to one person making a difference and turning your life around. I never knew who to say thank you to but saying thanks now. Well we told her thanks... but at the time "thank you so much" seemed like all we could do. Looking back it always blows me away. There was no flooding in Miami Beach, but the city wanted to keep people who were just curious what happened from going in and looking around while clean up crews were out and about trying to clean up and make it safe again for those of us who lived there. I'm sure they were worried on looters and other problems as well but flooding was not a problem in Hurricane Andrew, flooding is the problem in North Carolina from Florence.

My main message here today is this one. If someone sees a barricade that people had to go out in hurricane conditions and rising water to put there for your safety, turn around and do not drive around the barricade. Several of the deaths attributed to Florence in this storm were because people drove around a barricade thinking they would be fine or thinking what I don't know. People make stupid mistakes, that's why we call them "stupid mistakes" and usually they are just awkwardly stupid like wearing the wrong outfit or telling a roomful of people while drunk what you really think of them at a wedding or losing the wedding ring on the way to the chapel. Feel free to define "stupid mistakes" in your own way but way too often they are life altering and sometimes sadly life ending. A beautiful little child not yet a year old died because for some reason.....his mother drove around a barricade and the surging water on the street slammed her vehicle into a tree and by the time she got him out of his car seat the water had risen and she was unable to hold onto him and he floated away. Near that same area an older man, maybe 83 or 88 years old, drove around a barricade and the same thing happened and he died as well.

If flooding can lift a train off it's track and demolish the tracks... think what it will do to your vehicle and anyone in the car with you at the time. Think what it will do with you. If that isn't clear enough know there are big snakes in flood waters... maybe that will scare you more than a big yellow barricade. You know who I feel most sorry for? The poor workers who risked their lives putting out barricades as the water was rising in a storm to make sure no one would be hurt and then they hear that someone went around the barricade and died. After Matthew there was a big outcry that roads were not barricaded... people got off of I-95 and I-40 and drove down roads that their GPS showed them were there and they ended up being swept away by a strong current and died. North Carolina both locally and on a state level tried very hard this time around to barricade as many roads as possible yet.. people drove around the barricades.  I don't know what more we can do. And in truth .. being a person I know this.. people do stupid things and made rash decisions and sometimes you can't take those rash decision back.

So leaving you with images from North Carolina and the power of water. Perhaps we need to EDUCATE people less on Hurricanes and more on Flooding Dangers. Maybe we need to WARN people more about the flooding dangers and tornado dangers on the main page of the National Hurricane Center rather than just showing a cone with a line down the middle and tell people not to concentrate on the middle of the cone. It's not just about a cone or an eye or the small band of near hurricane force winds swirling around in the eye more often than not it's about the flooding, the storm surge and the tornadoes in the bands far away from the eye in the center of the cone. Nuff said. Look at the pictures please.  Pass this message on to someone who you think may benefit from thinking about driving around a barricade or following the advice to "just stay home" and "hunker down somewhere safe" until the storm has passed and the waters have receded.

Mike showed a close up today of the train tracks.

The train in the picture on the right above.

Next to the picture of the baby boy who died.

IF water can do that to a train....

...what will it do to you and your loved ones in a car?

Mangled train tracks ripped from the ground...

... the power of surging, rising water..

 A view from the air... 

Twisted and ripped away from the rest of the train.

Why did the train think it was okay to go there?

I wonder on that.

A bad decision they can't take back.

A freight train but still...

Look at that ... crazy.

Two pictures side by side.

The bridge if it stands...

..will have to be inspected.

Probably repaired.

That's if it doesn't wash away...

Death toll keeps rising too.

Same picture....

Now a day later it's 32 people that have died.

There were tornadoes in Virginia yesterday.

As Florence moved North.

One of Mike's loyal fans...

..sent him this picture I believe from a plane.

Later in the video you can see it touch down.

Mike is an awesome part of the chain...

..delivering valuable information always.

Maybe he can get the point across better in his own way..

...then many on air can do. 

Or the government agencies that are trying...

I'm sorry you can't drive on I-40.

It is a river right now.

That's I-40

No way to get to school yesterday...

..Durham decided to have school that day.

 I wonder which weather sources told them that would be okay.

And lastly.....this is going on and on on and on in NC.

Flooded homes adrift from their neighbors in a sea of water. 

Do you stay? Do you go?

Will the water recede?

Many left... 

...many cannot get back.

There are so many helping in the rescues.

People in the Carolinas don't complain so much.

They reach out and help their neighbors.

It's one thing that's good in this I'll say.

This image posted by Matt Drudge says much.

Shows how fragile many of us are...

Older people, sick people.

Young people making stupid mistakes.

Old people making errors of judgement.

It's all the same.

Don't blame them.

Help them.

Learn for the future.

If you see a barricade ... STOP!

Turn around don't drown.

If you hunkered down for the storm..

stay there until it's safe to go back.

And that's life here today from Carolina.
Both Carolinas.

We really are one Carolina.

And it's flooding in South Carolina too.

This is from Dillon South Carolina below.

There were no evacuation warnings in Dillon.

Just saying.

Dillon is near South of the Border.

If you remember I wrote about it much in the blog.

I said Florence was going there.

I was worried about those parts of SC.

Florence was definitely going there.

Maybe we focus too much on landfall?

You think?

Reporters work hard to bring you the story.

IF the road is out.

Take the detour.

Follow the rules.

Stay safe.

With prayers for everyone today everywhere.

But especially in the Carolinas.

And I'll give charity today as well.

Besos BobbiStorm

@bobbistorm on Twitter..

Ps... Pass this on to anyone you think needs to know.

Stay safe ... somewhere someone loves you.