Lesson from weakening Alberto.......

[george_r_1961]

There was no overhyping. Alberto was a strong TS at landfall and caused heavy rains and flooding as far north as VA. There have also been reports of gale force winds as far north as NC. Oh lets not forget about the tornadoes either. Landfalling June storms sometimes run into a frontal boundary; this type of setup is famous for producing tornadoes as well as torrential downpours. And the remnants of alberto arent done yet...hes going on a little vacation in Nova Scotia before vanishing into the cold north atlantic. Possibly some serious issues tommorow for our friends up there.

[rainstorm]

it was a mess here

[Extremeweatherguy]

If you didn't notice it, here it is:

About 1:20 am my son called me from California and told me to go downstairs because Hugo was heading straight for Charlotte. I brushed it off because hurricanes never come this far inland. About thirty minutes later it got very dark and I heard the wind howling. I looked outside and the trees were swaying dangerously. When the rain started it was coming sideways. Suddenly there was a sound like an explosion and the whole sky lit up. All the lights went out. My daughter was sleeping soundly so I shook her awake. We grabbed our cat and dog, ran downstairs and spent the rest of the night in total darkness, huddled in the basement, listening to trees crashing; power lines crackling; winds howling, and hail beating on the windows.

Hail beating the windows? I thought this was funny because this would be a completely non-tropical event if it really happened. Just goes to show how uneducated some people are when it comes to hurricanes.

Actually, though rare, hail does occur in hurricanes, especially in the outer bands where there are some very intense thunderstorms...just my $0.02

yes, I agree it is possible in the outer bands, but I think the writer of that site was referring to the eyewall. She probably thought the banging of tree limbs and other debris was hail.

[boca]

There was a fatal plane crash involved with the effects of Alberto so every storms has their characteristics. Poster please stop getting a rise out of people, it won't work.

[kenl01]

Well, without arguing with whether or not Ken actually received Cat 3 winds...

We all know the least that Cat 3 or Cat 4 winds can do to an area and that is basically what Charley did to Florida (15 billion dollars in damage, significant inland damage in Orlando from Cat 1-2 winds and power outages for days). Likewise, it is what Katrina did to Mississippi (long duration of Cat 1-3 winds probably have the same effect as a smaller Cat 4). Complete annihilation of the coast and even somewhat inland. And things could easily be as bad as Wilma in the US (Cat 1 - 2 winds causing 15-16 billion dollars in damage). So.. whatever it is... we all know that we have to be very careful about hurricane force winds, especially above Cat 1 level.

Of course, even 50-60 mph winds can have a devastating impact given the right conditions. Hurricane Isabel toppled what I could only guess was millions of trees in Virginia causing power outages in the DC area that last up to a week. No hurricane force winds here for sure. Isabel came onshore 400 miles away in NC as a moderate Cat 1-2.

So everybody's gotta watch out no matter what. Even as we were driving through TS Bonnie there was danger in the form of a tornado. TS Bonnie was hardly a storm at landfall and we were in Jacksonville far from its landfall point on the Panhandle.

I don't think there was any hype about Alberto. Everybody said this would likely be a weak to moderate TS and that was what it was. The media picked up on the fact that it might be a hurricane and it certainly could've been. I think the NHC kept that chance alive far longer than it might've, but really 5 or 10 miles is not a huge issue. The media did talk about it a lot more than they talked about other storms, but that's only reasonable considering how much hurricanes have impacted the country in the past 2 years.

I must admit, Hugo was scary at times, especially after 11:00pm, as winds gusted over 100mph and we could hear the grinding of the roof and horrific gusts of winds and a "wee" sound just before an intense gust would hit our house. I was outside on the glass porch during the height of the storm and observed a deciduous tree about 100' high that bend over in the winds, and then never came back up. We could sometimes hear suction vortices above us at times, making it very scary during certain moments ! My dad was telling me "I think we're in great danger here." We seeked shelter in the hallway during the height of the eyewall. The most frightening part was when I looked outside after my parents went to bed, all-of-a-sudden after midnight when the second quadrant reached us and winds became SW, I noticed rising water when I put my flashlight on the lawn outside. There was suddenly 1.5' of water rising quickly in the yard. I went to my parents bedroom and yelled "Warning !! Warning !! We have storm surge !!" The front yard on the driveway already had about 3' water on it. Fortunately, the water began to stabilize shortly thereafter and began to recede after 25 minutes of anxiety. We had about 4" of water in the garage but the rest of the house was ok. Next morning I saw a large tree had been deposited on my neighbors lawn, about 200 ft from our house !

Fortunately, Hugo did not pass 25 miles to the south of Charleston. Otherwise, we would have had water up to the ceiling. Areas around McClellanville, just north of Mt.Pleasant, experienced the worst of the storm surge and brunt of the storm.

Ken

[brunota2003]

THIS PRODUCT INCLUDES THE FOLLOWING RIVERS. TAR RIVER.

FOR THE TAR RIVER, INCLUDING GREENVILLE, MAJOR FLOODING IS
FORECASTED.

FOR THE TAR RIVER AT GREENVILLE, THE LATEST STAGE IS 9.9 FEET AT 11
AM THURSDAY. MAJOR FLOODING IS FORECAST, WITH A MAXIMUM STAGE OF
19.1 FEET AT 02 AM WEDNESDAY, WHICH IS 6.1 FEET ABOVE FLOOD STAGE.
THE STAGE WILL RISE ABOVE THE FLOOD STAGE OF 13.0 FEET AT 05 PM
FRIDAY. AT 19.0 FEET, SECONDARY ROADS ADJACENT TO THE RIVER WILL
FLOOD. WATER WILL BEGIN TO REACH A FEW HOMES NEAR THE RIVER. MANY
ACRES OF FARMLAND FLOODED. THIS CREST COMPARES TO A PREVIOUS CREST
OF 19.7 FEET ON MAR 14 1958.

DO NOT DRIVE VEHICLES THROUGH FLOODED AREAS. MOST FLOOD DEATHS OCCUR
IN AUTOMOBILES WHEN PEOPLE TRY TO DRIVE THROUGH FLOODED AREAS.

CAUTION IS URGED WHEN WALKING NEAR RIVERBANKS. FLOOD WATERS WILL
WEAKEN THE BANKS MAKING THEM DANGEROUS.

$$
FLD OBSERVED FORECAST 8AM EDT
LOCATION STG STG DAY TIME FRI SAT SUN

TAR RIVER
GREENVILLE 13 9.9 THU 11 AM 12.1 14.8 16.2

I really call that minor... They had to go all the way back to 1958 to compare this crest...This storm was not hyped enough here in Eastern NC for flooding rains...now more people are going to lose, not just their cars, but EVERYTHING, and quite a few are going to go hungary because their farmlands are getting washed away as we speak...let this be a lessen not to play with even Tropical Depressions...

[luvwinter]

This event was forcasted as a mostly rain event. That rain caused alot of problems for the Carolinas. It was a tropical storm, not even a hurricane. In Raleigh. TWC was reporting last night with Stephanie Abrahms about a a creek in the downtown area that had been at six feet prior to the storm and within the 6-8 hours that all the rain fell it went to 23 ft. I believe it was. If that isn't something to be concerned about I don't know what would be. I don't think the storm was overhyped in anyway. A lot of people say that a tropical storm is nothing to worry about. Tell that to the mother of the 13 year old boy who drowned in a storm drain trying to get his ball out that he and his friends were playing with. Granted the boy had no business being in the storm drain and should have left the ball there but the point is that the rain caused dangerous situations. When Stephanie Abrahms was talking to the local fire department. They said 65 people had to be rescued around Raleigh because people kept driving into the deep water thinking they could get through. People were even driving into the water as they were rescuing others from their vehicles in the same street. You have to wonder what these people are thinking.

[Audrey2Katrina]

During the Katrina film, we have film of some guy driving right INTO the flood waters as the interstate dipped below a railroad tressle overhead. The water HAD to be some 6-10 feet deep in that area. Fortunate for the driver a news crew was right on hand, and the reporter actually rushed to the car and helped the old guy out of the car as it began to sink. (Had to wait a while for pressure to equalize. I think the old guy said he "didn't see the water"... may have just panicked. Either way, it was one strange thing to see--and one VERY lucky man that the camera crew was there at the time, or he'd have been one of the many with a toe-tag. Not too smart to drive around in any hurricane or flash flood conditions.

A2K

[Extremeweatherguy]

During the Katrina film, we have film of some guy driving right INTO the flood waters as the interstate dipped below a railroad tressle overhead. The water HAD to be some 6-10 feet deep in that area. Fortunate for the driver a news crew was right on hand, and the reporter actually rushed to the car and helped the old guy out of the car as it began to sink. (Had to wait a while for pressure to equalize. I think the old guy said he "didn't see the water"... may have just panicked. Either way, it was one strange thing to see--and one VERY lucky man that the camera crew was there at the time, or he'd have been one of the many with a toe-tag. Not too smart to drive around in any hurricane or flash flood conditions.

A2K

I saw that footage. It was incredible!

[luvwinter]

I remember this footage as well. I remember thinking to myself that the guy was crazy. He was lucky that person was willing to risk his own life to save him as the man barely made it out of the car before it was completely submerged. It was one of those scenes that made you go HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM...................