Waters Begin To Recede
After a week of flooding due to the excessive rainfall produced by Hurricane Matthew, rivers across the east are beginning to recede. While this is good news, we are still left with the devastation caused by the very high flood waters.
The Tar River at Greenville is now cresting around 24.4′ which is 5′ short of Floyd levels though the damage is nearly as bad.
The only river that has not to crest is the Neuse River at Kinston where the river has risen to historical levels beating Hurricane Floyd by nearly 1′.
The Tar River at Tarboro crest Thursday and will continue to recede over the next five days. The river crest around 5′ of the record level.
The Tar River in Rocky Mount crest a couple of days and has been on the decrease since then. The river will fall below flood stage before the end of the day.
Some roads and bridges remain closed in Greenville and Pitt County as flood waters and damage to roads have hindered traffic on high volume roads.
Evacuations zones remain in place until flood waters recede and local officials announce it is safe to return to these locations. Do not drive through flooded roadways as this still could pose a danger to life and property. Your vehicle could stall, be swept away with the current, or may reach a part of the road that could have been damaged or washed away during the storm. Be safe and use common sense as you travel.
It is also highly recommended that you do not enter the waters as they are extremely dirty, contaminated with waste, and some creatures such as leeches being found in these waters.
I am saddened by the death and devastation across the area. The death toll is currently at 20 which is 20 too much. 14 of these deaths involved vehicles which stresses the point it is not safe to drive your vehicle into flooded roads. I hope there aren’t anymore deaths associated with the flood and it is up to everyone to make sure that this number doesn’t rise.
I have posted some of the pictures of the flooding over ENC. These images come from various sources on Twitter.
ENC will see dry conditions until the end of next week which should help to lower the water levels below flood stage.
I will provide more details over the next couple of days. Given the quiet weather pattern for the next week, my posts will probably limited to one post per day.
Stay safe ENC!