Hurricane Florence has brought turbulent weather, power outages and flooding to the US east coast – but it’s also proved an opportunity for one weather station to show off a little bit.
A report by the Weather Channel’s Erika Navarro has gone viral after the station expertly used green screen to illustrate the dangers of storm flooding, and the results are pretty scary.
Storm surge will be a huge factor for Hurricane #Florence Check out what it might look like with @TWCErikaNavarro: pic.twitter.com/TPqTZTmiAM
— The Weather Channel (@weatherchannel) September 13, 2018
The incredible video sees Navarro stood in a mixed reality street during a virtual storm, with water rising around the presenter, showing what 9ft (2.7m) of flooding would look like.
That level of storm surge is what Navarro describes as the “reasonable, worst-case scenario” for some areas such as North Carolina due to Hurricane Florence – but elsewhere the channel reported a storm surge in New Bern had already reached 10.1ft (3m).
Storm surge is the abnormal displacement of water both from the ocean and freshwater sources, which occurs during the strong winds of a hurricane.
Significant storm-surge flooding is already inundating New Bern, North Carolina, as of this evening. Here's the latest on #Florence: https://t.co/fo9dYfhUD2 pic.twitter.com/kiuwURvXhn
— The Weather Channel (@weatherchannel) September 13, 2018
Days of downpours could unload more than 3ft (91cm) of rain, adding to the severe flooding.
Although it was once a Category 4 hurricane with winds of 140mph, the hurricane was downgraded to a Category 1 on Thursday night, though winds upwards of 100mph are still being recorded.
The strongest tropical band from #Florence is hammering us now on the intracoastal in Wilmington, NC.Winds gusted to 63 MPH.#tropical pic.twitter.com/G7HaAg7k77
— Mike Seidel (@mikeseidel) September 14, 2018
Roy Cooper, the governor of North Carolina, has warned of an impending disaster due to Hurricane Florence.
“The worst of the storm is not yet here but these are early warnings of the days to come,” he said. “Surviving this storm will be a test of endurance, teamwork, common sense and patience.”
#Florence is expected to bring a life-threatening storm surge to portions of eastern North & South Carolina, and catastrophic flash flooding and prolonged significant river flooding are likely over portions of the Carolinas and the southern/central Appalachians. pic.twitter.com/j6HZco1Tsc
— National Hurricane Center (@NHC_Atlantic) September 14, 2018
The storm has left more than 80,000 people without power and put 12,000 in shelters, with 1.7 million across the Carolinas and Virginia told to evacuate – though it is unclear how many did.