Hurricane Isabel:Live Thread #2 "Force Ten Conditions In North Carolina And Further North"

NHC | 9-17-03 | My Favorite Headache

[Hatteras]

"a massive number of potholed one-way streets"

...with low railroad bridges that take the tops off of unwary moving vans! ;-)

[Overtaxed]

...and stoplights near train tracks.

[NautiNurse]

I forgot about those! Have seen a good number of big trucks with their tops peeled back like cans of tuna there. Thanks for the memory!

[southernnorthcarolina]

Yeah, they'll be fine. Great news that the winds continue to decline. Even if they happen to catch the worst of the storm, 100 mph is manageable down there. Easy to say 100 mph is no big deal from the comfort of my den, I know, but there's a big difference between, say, 100 and 120 mph, remembering that wind pressure on a structure increases as the square of the increase in wind speed. Trees, of course, would be a problem, but that's not much of a factor there.

[Hatteras]

Well, a little further south, Wrightsville Beach looks almost kinda pleasant this morning... Blockade Runner Beach Cam

[pgkdan]

FOX is reporting that the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel has just been closed. I expect the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel will be closed next and the Monitor Merrimack Bridge Tunnel and the Downtown and Midtown tunnels soon too. That leaves only one way out of town and that will probably be flooded soon. I hope that anyone who hasn't left yet is safe where they are.

[Gabz]

I understand they shut the bridge/tunnel down when winds reach 50kt

[Hatteras]

"Have seen a good number of big trucks with their tops peeled back like cans of tuna there."

The bridge over Gregson catches, on average, about one per week.

Actually, they put up a steel beam about 10 feet in front of it at the same height to stop the trucks from actually making contact with the bridge itself. They painted the beam with yellow and black stripes and big warning signs and a sensor that sets off flashing yellow warning lights if it detects an oversized vehicle approaching. It took less than 8 hours before a truck slammed into the steel beam and tore up their nice fresh paint and new warning sign!

[ZAKJAN]

I have a friend in Newport News VA, i was on the phone with him, and the police were going around with a loud speaker telling all to evacuate.....
Jan

[iceskater]

You're right about the pines...they'll bend almost all the way over before snapping, but my big concern is having the damned things come out of the ground, roots and all. We'll see.

That's my big concern, too. The ground is so saturated already from all the rain we've been having that I really expect an awful lot of trees to being uprooted.
It's raining in Richmond now. The wind is starting to gust a bit. We have a long way to go yet, though.

[Aggie Mama]

OMG, that is too funny. Thanks so much for posting it!

[pgkdan]

It was big news at 10:00 last night when a big tree was blown over onto a house near Lake Smith. Big news because the winds were only 15-20 mph! This is a pretty lousy omen IMHO.

[pgkdan]

That's what I understand as well. The Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel is pretty unprotected out there in the bay so they've probably recorded big winds before anyone else.

[Howlin]

Good morning, everybody! Is everybody accounted for??

[NautiNurse]

In all the years I lived in Durm, I had very few reasons to go downtown (except Bulls games, jury duty, incorporating the business). Every single time I went downtown, I got fouled up in the loop and those blasted one way streets.

Worst of all, one wrong turn, and a girl will find herself in some very dangerous 'hoods.

[Rebelbase]

Get this, one of my town's Reporterettes is on location at VA beach. She keeps hyping over and over, "We're expecting a 20-30' storm surge"

[Howlin]

Are you working the whole day??

[Miss Marple]

Fox reporting from Virginia Beach. Wind picking up. Sustained of 30 mph, gusts 40-50mph. Surge is now about 50 yeards away...was 200. Sand blowing even though it's raining. 25,000 people have already lost power. Several pumping stations have already lost power and they have sent crews to get them on generators.

[glock rocks]

g'mornin Howlin!

[xsmommy]

did you see jeff goldblatt's legs and the surf shoes he has on? LOL!