NOAA compares Izzy to Floyd.

[shaner]

NOAA seems to think there could be some record setting flooding going on. They've even gone as far as to show the difference in the pre-hurricane conditions from today and 1999. Let's just say Izzy is letting loose on a lot of wet land.

NOAA WEATHER STATS OF AREAS ALONG THE EASTERN SEABOARD;
RECENT CONDITIONS AND CONDITIONS PRESENT DURING HURRICANE FLOYD IN 1999

LEGACY OF HURRICANE FLOYD

In 1999, Hurricane Floyd made landfall on Sept. 16 near Cape Fear, N.C., with winds to 105 mph—Category 2 on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale. Crossing eastern North Carolina and Virginia, Floyd weakened to a tropical storm. Its center moved offshore along the coasts of the Delmarva Peninsula and New Jersey, and then, on Sept. 17, it moved over Long Island and New England where it became extratropical.

Rainfall totals were large, and combined with saturated ground water levels from recent
previous rain events, the result was an inland flood disaster. There were 56 deaths in the United States (and one in the Bahamas), most due to drowning from fresh water floods. This made Floyd the deadliest U.S. hurricane since Agnes of 1972. Rainfall totals were as high as 15 to 20 inches over portions of eastern North Carolina and Virginia, 12 to 14 inches over portions of Maryland, Delaware, and New Jersey, 4-7 inches over eastern Pennsylvania and southeastern New York, and up to 11 inches over portions of New England. Maximum storm surge water levels reached as high as 9 to 10 feet above normal tide levels along the North Carolina coast. Total damage estimates range from $3 billion to more than $6 billion dollars.

Floyd's track was close in proximity to all of the U.S. East Coast and required hurricane warnings from south Florida to Massachusetts, excluding the New York City metropolitan area, which was under a tropical storm warning. The last hurricane to require warnings for as large an area was Hurricane Donna in 1960.

January-June 2003 (8 months):

Virginia — record wettest (21st driest in 1999)
Maryland — record wettest (25th driest in 1999)
North Carolina and South Carolina — 2nd wettest (21st and 15th driest in 1999, respectively)
West Virginia — 3rd wettest (8th driest in 1999)
Georgia — 5th wettest (15th driest in 1999)
Florida 6th wettest (28th driest in 1999)

June-August 2003 (3 months/summer):
Pennsylvania & West Virginia — 2nd wettest (17th and 3rd driest in 1999 respectively)
Alabama — 3rd wettest
Virginia — 5th wettest (12th driest in 1999)
Georgia — 7th wettest
North Carolina — 8th wettest (16th driest in 1999)
South Carolina — 9th wettest (7th driest)

March—August 2003 (6 months)
Virginia and South Carolina — record wet (12th and 7th driest in 1999 respectively)
Alabama, Georgia., North Carolina — 2nd wettest (Alabama — near normal, Georgia.— 9th driest , North Carolina —12th driest)
West Virginia and Maryland — 4th wettest (5th and 10th driest respectively)
Florida and Pennsylvania — 5th wettest. — (Fla., near normal, Pa., — 17th driest)

September— August 2003 (12 months):
Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia — record wet
Florida, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Delaware — 2nd wettest
New Jersey — 6th wettest

September—August 1999 (12 months)
Georgia — 19th driest
South Carolina — 21st driest
North Carolina — 12th driest
Virginia and Maryland — 4th driest
Delaware — 9th driest
New Jersey — 15th driest
Pennsylvania — 17th driest
Entire remainder of East Coast, except Florida, was dry, too.

[wxman57]

I went back and got a wind analysis of Floyd at landfall and compared it to Isabel:

http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/Storm_page ... 160700.jpg

ftp://ftp.aoml.noaa.gov/pub/hrd/hwind/2 ... ol4deg.png

Both storms were about 82-83 kts at landfall. And both followed an unusually wet period in the previous weeks/month. Even though Isabel is moving at a pretty good clip and won't stall out, 4-8 inches of rain over soggy ground will cause problems.

[JCT777]

Agreed for the most part WxMan. The only difference I can see is that Floyd came through when most of the mid-Atlantic was just starting to come out of a very bad drought that had been many months in the making. September had started off fairly wet in 1999, but January to August were quite dry. This year, January through August were very wet in the mid-Atlantic. So Isabel is coming through when rivers/creeks/reservoirs are just about full to capacity. Most rivers/creeks/reservoirs were pretty low when Floyd came through.