The National Weather Service says it will be surveying storm damage in West Virginia.
News outlets report a storm system passed through the Charleston area Monday evening knocking down trees and power lines and leaving more than 20,000 Appalachian Power customers without electric.
Kanawha County Commission President Kent Carper said in a statement that it appears a tornado touched down in Kanawha based on damage reports.
The weather service said it would analyze pictures, videos and an on-site assessment to determine what occurred and the strength of wind speeds.
A tornado warning interrupted the West Virginia Senate’s special session on education reform on Monday night, when the Capitol building was evacuated. Senators returned and finished their legislative business later in the evening.
Mandatory evacuations were imposed for parts of three East Coast states Tuesday as millions of Americans prepared for what could become one of the most catastrophic hurricanes to hit the Eastern Seaboard in decades.
For many people, the challenge could be finding a safe refuge: If Florence slows to a crawl just off the coast, it could bring torrential rains all the way into the Appalachian mountains and as far away as West Virginia, causing flash floods, mudslides and other dangerous conditions in places that don’t usually get much tropical weather.
“This is going to produce heavy rainfall, and it may not move very fast. The threat will be inland, so I’m afraid, based on my experience at FEMA, that the public is probably not as prepared as everybody would like,” said Craig Fugate, former director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Florence is expected to linger once onshore, downing trees, knocking out electricity and causing widespread flooding along a path that includes half a dozen nuclear power plants, pits holding coal-ash and other industrial waste, and numerous hog farms that store animal waste in massive open-air lagoons.
West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice issued a “state of preparedness” Tuesday morning, which covers the entire state and allows for the mobilization of resources to assist with preparation for any potential flooding or other storm related damage, according to a press release from the governor’s office. On Monday, Justice directed the West Virginia Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management (WVDHSEM) and the West Virginia National Guard (WVNG) to prepare for potential emergency situations in West Virginia due to the anticipated impacts of the hurricane. The West Virginia National Guard will provide initial logistics support for FEMA efforts as the hurricane makes landfall.
“All West Virginians need to prepare immediately for the potential impact Hurricane Florence may bring to the Mountain State,” Justice said in a Monday news release. “West Virginians should continue to monitor local weather forecasts, reports and information distributed by local emergency officials, news, and radio stations. And please, do not endanger yourselves, your loved ones or our first responders by trying to drive through flood waters!”
Florence a Category 4 Hurricane
Hurricane Florence’s top winds dipped to 130 mph Tuesday morning, but it remains a Category 4 storm and is expected to approach the most-damaging Category 5 status as it slows and strengthens over very warm ocean water off the coast of North and South Carolina.
The center of the massive storm is then forecast to meander Thursday, Friday and Saturday over a stretch of coastline saturated by rising seas, inundating several states with rainfall and triggering life-threatening floods.
The size of Florence is “staggering,” National Hurricane Center Director Ken Graham warned.
“We could cover several states easily with the cloud cover alone,” Graham said. “This is not just a coastal event.”
Rainfall will be extremely heavy, dumping up to 10 to 20 inches over the next 7 days over much of North Carolina and Virginia, and even 30 inches in some places. Combined with high tides, the storm surge could reach 12 feet at the center of the storm, forecasters said Tuesday.
“The water could overtake some of these barrier islands and keep on going. With time, the wind pushes the water into every nook and cranny you can think of,” Graham said. “All you have to do is look up at your ceiling, and think about 12 feet. That, folks, is extremely life-threatening.”
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said his state is “in the bullseye” and urged people to “get ready now.”
The very center of that bullseye may be Camp Lejeune, the sprawling Marine Corps training base, where authorities were opening emergency operation centers and staging equipment.
“Please be prepared, be careful and be SAFE!” tweeted President Donald Trump, adding: “WE are here for you.”
South Carolina’s governor ordered the state’s entire coastline evacuated starting at noon Tuesday and predicted that 1 million people would flee as highways reverse directions. Virginia’s governor ordered a mandatory evacuation for some residents of low-lying coastal areas, while some coastal counties in North Carolina have done the same.
Tuesday’s 7-day rainfall forecast showed 20 inches or more falling there, part of a wide swath of rainfall that could total ten inches or more over much of Virginia and drench the nation’s capital. Some isolated areas could get 30 inches, forecasters said.
Florence could hit the Carolinas harder than any hurricane since Hazel packed 130 mph (209 kph) winds in 1954. That Category 4 storm destroyed 15,000 buildings and killed 19 people in North Carolina. In the six decades since then, many thousands of people have moved to the coast.
Ahead of Florence’s arrival, barrier islands were already seeing dangerous rip currents and seawater flowed over a state highway — the harbinger of a storm surge that could wipe out dunes and submerge entire communities.
Watches were in effect Tuesday for a storm surge that could reach up to 12 feet at high tide on a stretch from Cape Fear to Cape Lookout in North Carolina, forecasters said. A hurricane watch was in effect for Edisto Beach, South Carolina, to Virginia’s southern border, and the first hurricane-force winds arriving late Thursday.
A warm ocean is the fuel that powers hurricanes, and this area of the ocean is seeing temperatures peak near 85 degrees (30 Celsius), hurricane specialist Eric Blake wrote. And with little wind shear to pull the storm apart, Florence’s hurricane-strength winds were expanding, reaching 40 miles (64 kilometers) from the eye of the storm.
“Unfortunately, the models were right. Florence has rapidly intensified into an extremely dangerous hurricane,” Blake wrote Monday evening, predicting that the hurricane’s top sustained winds would approach the 157 mph (253 kph) threshold for a wost-case Category 5 scenario. Tuesday morning’s forecast still supports this, the National Hurricane Center said.
By 8 a.m. Tuesday, Florence was centered about 950 miles (1,530 kilometers) east-southeast of Cape Fear, North Carolina, and moving west-northwest at 15 mph (24 kph). Its center will move between Bermuda and the Bahamas on Tuesday and Wednesday and approach the coast of South Carolina or North Carolina on Thursday.
Two other storms were spinning in the Atlantic as the 2018 hurricane season reaches its peak. Isaac became a tropical storm again approaching the Caribbean, while Hurricane Helene was veering northward, no threat to land.
In the Pacific, Olivia became a tropical storm again on a path to hit the Hawaiian islands early Wednesday.
Airlines, including American, Southwest, Delta and JetBlue, have begun letting affected passengers change travel plans without the usual fees.
South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster said an estimated 1 million people would be fleeing his state’s coast, with eastbound lanes of Interstate 26 heading into Charleston and U.S. 501 heading into Myrtle Beach reversed to ease the exodus.
Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam’s evacuation order applies to about 245,000 people, including parts of the Hampton Roads area and Eastern Shore.
Liz Browning Fox was planning to ride out the storm nevertheless on the Outer Banks. She said her house, built in 2009 in Buxton, North Carolina, is on a ridge and built to withstand a hurricane. But even the most secure homes could be surrounded by water, or penetrated by wind-launched debris.
“You never know, there could be tree missiles coming from any direction,” she said. “There is no way to be completely safe.”
But, she added, she’s not sure whether going inland would be much safer: “I don’t know where to go from here.”
Another blast of winter is forecast for this weekend in West Virginia. West Virginia University has cancelled the annual Gold-Blue spring football game because of the impending storm.
The National Weather Service says southern and western sections of the state could get 4 inches or more of snow starting Friday night.
A winter storm watch has been posted for Cabell, Lincoln, Mason, Putnam and Wayne counties. Other areas of the state are expected to get lesser amounts.
The forecast has prompted West Virginia University to cancel its scheduled spring football game in Morgantown on Saturday.
WVU athletic director Shane Lyons said in a news release that the move was made to assure the safety of the players as well as fans who might be traveling to the game.
The game won’t be rescheduled. Tickets sold to fans in advance of the spring game will be automatically refunded by the Mountaineer Ticket Office if paid by credit card or check. Fans who paid cash should contact the Mountaineer Ticket Office to start their refund process.
The National Weather Service has sent two teams to survey storm-damaged areas of West Virginia and eastern Kentucky to determine whether tornadoes occurred.
Meteorologist Maura Casey in Charleston said one team is looking at damage reported from a storm in Kanawha and Lincoln counties in West Virginia and in Louisa, Kentucky.
In Louisa, Lawrence County Emergency Management Director Michael Woods said a Walmart store roof sustained damage, several vehicles were overturned and some minor injuries were reported.
WCHS-TV reports a thunderstorm ripped off a church steeple and tore shingles and siding off homes in the Lincoln County community of Yawkey.
Casey says a second storm team is surveying storm damage in the northern West Virginia communities of Lost Creek, Jane Lew and Philippi.
Warming stations and shelters are open in counties across West Virginia in preparation for expected power outages as Winter Storm Jonas continues to drop heavy snow on the southern and western regions of the state. Shelter locations are listed below by county.
BARBOUR COUNTY Barbour County Health Department
BERKELEY COUNTY Musselman High School Hedgesville Fire Department
CABELL COUNTY A.D. Lewis Community Center 1450 A.D. Lewis Avenue Huntington, WV 25701
New Baptist Church 610 28th Street Huntington, WV 25701
Salvation Army 1227 3rd Avenue Huntington, WV 25701
Tri-State Fire Academy 4200 Ohio River Road Huntington, WV 25702
Westmoreland Womens Club 2962 Bradley Road Huntington, WV 25704
FAYETTE COUNTY
Fayetteville First Church of God 124 Harvey Street Fayetteville, WV 25840 Mike Parsons 304-574-1338
JEFFERSON COUNTY
Jefferson County High School, Shenandoah Junction
Asbury Methodist Church, Charles Town
(304) 728-3290
KANAWHA COUNTY St. Mark’s Church – opens at 6PM 900 Washington Street, East Charleston, WV 25301
Kanawha City Community Center 3511 Venable Avenue Charleston, WV 25304
LOGAN COUNTY
Salvation Army
544 Stratton Street
Logan WV 25601
304-752-8131
**Warming Stations on Standby**
Man Area:
Buffalo Creek Fire Dept. – 304 583-2306
Logan County Volunteer Fire Dept – 304 583-2562
Logan:
Salvation Army (in the basement) Kendra Conley 304 601-7401
Chapmanville:
Old Chapmanville High School – Cody Perry 304 784-2538
MCDOWELL COUNTY North Fork Fire Department 34225 Coal Heritage Road North Folk, WV 24868
NICHOLAS COUNTY Craigsville United Methodist Church 18001 Webster Road Craigsville, WV 26205
Richwood City Hall 6 White Avenue Richwood, WV 26261
PUTNAM COUNTY YMCA 200 Carl’s Lane Scott Depot, WV 25560
Bancroft Fire Station 507 Washington Street Bancroft, WV 25011
RALEIGH COUNTY
Stand By Shelters:
The Dream Center
224 Pinewood Drive
Beckley, WV 25801
Woodrow Wilson High School
400 Standford Road
Beckley, WV 25801
TAYLOR COUNTY Grafton City Hospital
Church of the Good Shepherd (Grafton)
Blueville United Methodist Church (Grafton)
Flemington EMS
Family Resource Network/Project HOP2E (Grafton)
WIRT COUNTY
The Salvation Army will offer a free meal Saturday at 4:30 p.m.
304-482-0669
WOOD COUNTY Salvation Army 580 5th Street Parkersburg, WV 26101
Latrobe Street Mission 1825 Latrobe Street Parkersburg, WV 26101
Snow kayaking, stuck snowplows and scenes that belong in a snow globe — these are just some of the images and videos being shared here in West Virginia during Blizzard 2016.