Best wishes to everyone in the coastal areas of South and North Carolina as well as southern Virginia as Hurricane Florence starts to make landfall.  The primary concern appears to be the storm surge and accompanying rainfall.  I have a friend who was battening down his house in Topsail Beach earlier in the week so can hopefully check in with him periodically to gauge impact.  

We'll post updates as the storm passes through, but people can also check the status at the National Hurricane Center's website.

9.13.18 @ 8:27 pm est: flooding in certain coastal areas of North Carolina has commenced.

9.14.18 @ 7:15 am est: Florence made landfall in Wrightsville Beach just east of Wilmington, NC.

9.14.18 @ 2:50 pm est: live from North Topsail Beach where my friend has his place.

9.14.18 @ 8:57 pm est: flooding and storm surge continue in North and South Carolina.

9.15.18 @ 11:01 am est: nearly 1 million without power so President Trump has declared a national disaster in 8 NC counties.

9.16.18 @ 11:38 am est: record breaking rainfall to continue so flooding growing worse.

9.16.18 @ 3:05 pm est: Florence has never been more dangerous.

It's been a really hard and tragic weekend in coastal North Carolina and parts of coastal South Carolina and Virginia.  Here's hoping the worst is over, but based on the news it sounds like they are still in for at least a couple of more tough days.  My friend's house in Topsail Beach, NC is still standing, but with some damage and he won't know the extent until late this week.

9.17.18 @ 11:08 pm est: while Florence has departed the Carolinas, the storm continues to wreak havoc.