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| Just one example of the destruction from Florence. |
Already, at least 12 deaths have been reported from the storm and flooding. We are only in the middle stages of this disaster, as the rain continues to pour down in North Carolina, parts of South Carolina and some of Virginia.
Many rivers are or will be at record high levels. Some of these rivers won't crest until sometimes next week. There's a lot more destruction to come.
In a tweet, the National Weather Service said late last night, "The worst flooding is yet to come for portions of the Carolinas, the southern/central Appalachians from western NC to west-central VA and eastern WV."
The downpours today have already spread inland to the Blue Ridge mountains in western North Carolina and adjacent Tennessee and Virginia. This raises the prospect of sudden, terrible flash floods and landslides.
There's a lot of concern about people living in deep valleys and hollows in those mountains that could be hit by these mudslides and floods.
This is a big enough disaster to have impacts far from the flood zone. The cost of many items, from gasoline to pork is expected to go up for all of us. Deliveries, shipments and travel is delayed because so many major roads are under water. This includes what is normally extremely busy Interstate 95 in North Carolina.
A new North Carolina single-storm rainfall record has already been set, with more than 33 inches reported in Swansboro, North Carolina.
The remains of Florence will finally head northeast and out of the Carolinas early this week. It will likely cause some flooding from Pennsylvania to southern New England, but that flooding will be nothing like what's hitting the Carolinas.
TYPHOON MANGKHUT
As if Hurricane Florence and its flooding wasn't bad enough, Typhoon Mangkhut spread lots of death and destruction in the Philippines and Hong Kong. This is just a couple weeks after another typhoon caused widespread destruction in Japan.
Mangkhut is so far the strongest hurricane or typhoon on the planet this year, with gusts of 200 mph. (Hurricanes and typhoons are exactly the same thing as each other, just the names are different. )
About 50 people are confirmed dead in the Philippines, and that toll is very likely to rise.
Videos from Hong Kong show people being violently blown against buildings, cranes falling off skyscrapers, high rises swaying ominiously in the wind, countless windows blown out of other high rises with stuff from inside these buildings being sucked out by the wind, and airborne debris racing past windows as frightened people watch.
All this with the eye of the typhoon passing roughly 60 miles to the south of Hong Kong.
Some of those incredible videos of this typhoon are at the bottom of this post that you have to watch.
VERMONT HEAT GRINDS ON FOR NOW
Today will be the 80th day this year that Burlington, Vermont has a high temperature of 80 degrees or more. That's close to the record for most days of such weather in one year. There were 86 days of 80 degree heat during 2016.
There will probably be another 80 degree high in Burlington tomorrow, but that's probably it for now. There might or might not be more 80 degree days later this autumn, but the chances of that happening are falling fast.
Today will feel like midsummer with rather high humidity and temperatures well into the 80s. So much for September cool.
Northern Vermont still needs rain, and of course, the remains of Florence look like they will largely miss that area, so the drought goes on.
At least it will be cooler midweek in the wake of Florence. High temperatures will "only" be in the seasonable 60s.
Here's some of those videos from Hong Kong in Typhoon Mangkhut
This video also graphically illustrates the power of this typhoon:
I don't know what this adult and child were doing out in the typhoon, but it easily blew them away. Luckily, they were rescued:
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