Pete's Prep: Tuesday, Sept. 18, 2018

Hurricane Florence death toll tops 30, more rivers to flood

We were largely spared in Western NC, but the danger is still very real throughout the rest of the state.

From USAToday (via the Citizen-Times):

Although the torrential rain from Florence may be coming to an end in the Carolinas, the slow-motion disaster of river flooding will continue to wreak havoc across the region for days – or potentially weeks.

It may take up to two weeks for all of the runoff from the storm, which has killed at least 32 people, to drain slowly downstream from the mountains to the coast, forecasters warned. As of midday Monday, 19 river gauges in the Carolinas were at "major" flood stage, the National Weather Service said, and record crests could be challenged or shattered in some communities.

Nearly 20 rivers in the Carolinas were expected to crest in major flood stage this week, the Weather Channel said. 

Meanwhile, elections offices in several counties will be unable to mail out absentee ballots to military and overseas voters. Carolina Journal has more:

Several counties hard hit by Hurricane Florence can’t send absentee ballots to military and overseas voters for the Nov. 6 election. So the Bipartisan State Board of Elections & Ethics Enforcement is taking on that task.

“We are assessing emergency options, and our team is committed to assisting county boards and voters in the affected areas,” Kim Westbrook Strach, state board executive director, said in a news release Monday, Sept. 17.

The individual counties were not named in the release. But it said storm-related flooding, power and internet outages, or inaccessibility due to the storm prodded the state board to step in.

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